On a recent visit to a parenting message board, I saw questions and skepticism about some teachers' policy of allowing students to retake tests. "Are grades meaningful if students can simply re-take a test?" one person queried. Another asked "Why would students try hard to do well on the initial test if they knew they could just retake it later?" These are some interesting questions to explore. Read on for answers. A low test score is an indication that a student has not lear

Families can struggle to interpret the meaning of a child's grade. On a parenting message board, I recently came across posts challenging the fairness of teachers' assessment systems and questions about what constitutes an "average" report card. I was also reminded of the topic when I heard my clients and friends express relief after Montgomery County Public Schools' decision to revert from standards-based report cards to letter-grade report cards this year. As I talk to par