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[archman]

I teach a two semester A&P at a CC. for the past few years I have added a special section of the first semester for those students who did not pass it in the Fall. They can only take this class with my permission. They have to have passed at least 3 of the 7 tests. I carry over any test score that was a passing grade, but they have to do everything else, including lab assignments, that they didn't pass.
I only do this from Fall to Spring, continuous semesters.
The students have to pay for the full class, something I wish I could change.
If they have demonstrated that they can do the work, why make them do it again?

Wow. Unbelievable.  So basically every student who retakes your class gets a free pass on all exams they passed the first time they took your class??
I am getting the impression you use the same or similar test questions from year to year, and this is bizarre method you have concocted to avoid making up new tests.
I would love to hear what the academic dean thinks about this. Just imagine all the wonderful “opportunities” if all students in all classes could have such freedoms!

[conjugate]

I think they should take the course over again, every assignment. I'm sorry if it's inconvenient for you, but it's a terrible message to them if you don't.

The Fiona

As well, it's a nuisance to those of us who don't allow this.  "But my other teacher said she'd let us use the grade on Test 1 from last semester."

Yes, your teacher may have done this, but I know from grim experience that people in Calculus II can't remember stuff they learned in Calculus I, even when they passed.  Those who didn't pass are not more likely to remember the lessons learned than those who did.  Don't let them skate by.

[ffbush54]

archman -
I cleared the idea with my division chair and the dean before doing this. Most of the students who have chosen to do this have passed the class and are just trying to get a better grade to help with admission to a program. If they haven't passed enough tests, they do take the whole class over again. This is meant to help the person who missed passing by one or two points on their average.

conjugate - I'm the only one who teaches this course on my campus, so this isn't a problem.

[zuzu_]

Thanks, all, for the healthy debate. I was seeking a "devil's advocate" perspective, and you've provided it. I will digest what you've said as I plan how to handle these repeat students.

[unusedusername]

For assignments, I would allow the students to turn in an old assignment for the new class.  After all, they wrote it, so it's not plagiarism.  If the resume they wrote got a B last time, it gets a B this time.  Whatever assignments they didn't do well on, they would want to redo.  In-class assessments, such as tests, should have to be retaken.

[archman]

I cleared the idea with my division chair and the dean before doing this. Most of the students who have chosen to do this have passed the class and are just trying to get a better grade to help with admission to a program. If they haven't passed enough tests, they do take the whole class over again. This is meant to help the person who missed passing by one or two points on their average.
 

Now you are contradicting yourself. In your first post, you reported that you offered redo’s to people that *failed* your class. Now you are saying that most of your redo’s are students who *actually passed*, but just want to boost their grade.  THEN you state that you do this primarily for boosting  students that have *borderline grades*. Good grief.  At this point I don’t care which story is the false one. They both suck.
No wonder your senior admin are endorsing you, this is a wonderful strategy to improve retention! It should be adopted college-wide. Students can retake only the portions of the classes they did bad on! Yay! We can charge students full price, but both they and us only have to do part of the work! Excellent!
The fact that you teach A&P is especially alarming. Many of these folks are slated for professional careers in health services. The learning standards for them are expected to be among the highest in undergraduate education. We do not give these students “breaks” in the way you are describing.  Students that retake entire classes are paying to retake the *entire class*. Their tuition and fees are set up that way. Your responsibilities as a college professor are also to teach these students the *full class* over again. Your student rosters do not contain exceptions for people that are only completing bits and pieces of the class. Nor in all likelihood does your course syllabus. 
Dang, just suck it up and make up some new exams for these people. That *is* essentially the heart of the matter, is it not?

[ffbush54]

No contradiction. I offer it to people who have failed, meaning they got a D(in my opinion, that is a failing grade, although I know it is considered passing). Other people have the option of taking it if they want to improve their grades. Some of them may have to do that if they want to get accepted into a program. They can retake the entire class if they want, but many of them may have a hard time with families at home, both parents and children.

Why are you stuck on my making up new tests. Whether I use the same tests or new ones, it is the same material they are learning.

I consider this a service to the students. If they want to take advantage of it, so be it.

[larryc]

I would make it their responsibility to turn in all the assignments for the online course, but allow they to recycle the old essays. After all it is not like they are getting credit for them twice, they got no college credit at all the first time around.

[alleyoxenfree]

No contradiction. I offer it to people who have failed, meaning they got a D(in my opinion, that is a failing grade, although I know it is considered passing). Other people have the option of taking it if they want to improve their grades. Some of them may have to do that if they want to get accepted into a program. They can retake the entire class if they want, but many of them may have a hard time with families at home, both parents and children.

Why are you stuck on my making up new tests. Whether I use the same tests or new ones, it is the same material they are learning.

I consider this a service to the students. If they want to take advantage of it, so be it.

It's hard to understand all the bile directed at this.  It was standard at a past university where I taught, and seen as a way to address first-generation problems with adapting to college work.  In certain courses, there were a few sections added in winter for students who did not pass the course in the fall.  Students completed only the work that they had failed to do before, plus some additional assignments that would cover things like the fact that they might have missed some reading and homework.  The fact that they had to pay for the course twice, and had to fit it into their schedule, could not speed ahead like others, was considered punitive enough.

I have done this with a handful of students over the years, perhaps 3 or 4.  There were circumstances that did not fit an Incomplete, but which I felt did not warrant them rewriting all the papers, or retaking the tests (maybe they did fine on the tests but failed to turn in the paper, thus getting below the grade required to pass).
I made varying arrangements with them based on what they had failed to do.  Some attended daily, effectively retaking the whole class, but only redid some of the assignments, per our agreement.  Otherwise attended only the portion of the course that they had freaked out on (perhaps the second half).  I have to say that, in every case, they were excellent students the second time around instead of slacking, and added quite a bit to the class.
Funny how insightful their comments become when they've seen the film a second time, or after they've already written papers or taken tests in this area.  They almost become like TAs.

I'm a hanging judge about lots of things but not about this. 

[pb_ft]

Why are you stuck on my making up new tests. Whether I use the same tests or new ones, it is the same material they are learning.

Are they learning the material or the exams? 

[polly_mer]

Are they learning the material or the exams? 

That is the question.  In my experience, when the same tests are given semester after semester, some students who have not mastered the material can still pass those tests.  However, those students are completely at sea when given tests that test the same material, but in a different format or with questions that are slightly different.

For that reason, some of us find varying the tests term to term useful to check whether the students have mastered the tests or have mastered the material.

[bone_gal]

If I were in this situation, a key part of my decision making process is that they failed the class the first time- which means something went very wrong. So there's no way I would give them an easier time about it if they retook the class. Also, I think for many classes, the process of learning is what's important (and also the process of learning to be responsible about time management and other life factors needed to be successful), not any finished product they create. Especially for a class that focuses on teaching people how to write- a huge part of that is the process of writing, and that benefits from practice, practice, practice. Even if someone has written one good paper in their life, they can always benefit from trying to write another one. Even if they created a passable resume last class, I still think they could benefit from revising the resume to make it better. So if it were me, I'd make them do the required work just like any other student. They will still have their "demons" to fight, in terms of the behaviors that led them to fail the first time around, and I think a reduced workload wouldn't be doing them any favors.

[gbrown]

I agree with polly_mer. I actually state in my policies that "recycling" one's own work is a form of academic dishonesty. This discourages students from taking my course and doing the 1/2 of the work that they missed the last time. I also check a plagiarism website to see if their work has been previously submitted.

My reasons? I want to see what they can do *now*--not what they did last semester, last year, or in the last decade. This forces them to rethink and rewrite. Before they get to my class, students often share that they'd been turning in THE SAME ESSAY since junior high. I don't know about you, but I like to think that they've learned something since then...

[offthemarket]

At my university, this would be seen as academically dishonest and unprofessional.  The students truly have to RETAKE the class.  For all intents and purposes, you should treat them like all the other students in the class, but also make sure they are not recycling work from the prior semester.