Diplomas Count - June 5, 2014 - 19

EDUCATION WEEK JUNE 5, 2014
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Diplomas Count > www.edweek.org/go/dc14
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tell how they plan to remember
the content in the future. After the
analysis, a student can schedule a
retest with different questions that
cover the same material.
One morning last fall, about a
dozen students crowded outside a
classroom, waiting to retake a history
test. They didn't all flunk or
miss class on the day of the exam;
several just wanted to show they
had learned material they might
have stumbled over weeks or even
months before.
"They're not arguing with the
teacher over points," Mr. Wallis said.
"It takes away some of the time pressure
for these kids. In a traditional
grading system, it gets harder and
harder to change your grade the
deeper you get into the semester."
"Here, the deeper you get in your
term, the easier it gets to change
your grade. You can always go back
and demonstrate that you now understand
one of those earlier concepts
[that was missed]," he said.
That creates more work for
teachers at the end of each term,
but staff members get additional
nonclass days for grading.
"I've done it a lot of times," said
Destane Sanchez, also an 11th
grader. "It's really just the idea that
I could do better than I've done before,
so I really should do it. Often,
it's just really simple, easy mistakes-everyone
has had a bad day.
Everybody learns differently, and
that's what they try to focus on."
Mr. Hidalgo, the former procrastinator,
agreed. "I know what
the essential skills are [in a given
test], and many chapters can
cover the same essential skill," he
said. "This way, I decide whether
it's worth my time to go back and
do [a retest] or not."
Looking Back
Da Vinci also regularly encourages
students to examine their academic
and emotional growth. At
the end of each semester and before
they graduate, students must
give a talk before a panel of teachers
on what they have learned in
at least three classes, citing specific
examples of mistakes made
and problems overcome.
Engineering teacher Lenny Perez,
who also directs an "advisory class"
to help students plan their presentations,
said the opportunity to reflect
on their growth seems to help
students persevere academically. In
2013, 99 percent of the school's first
full cohort of students graduated
from high school-well above the
state and Los Angeles-metropolitan-area
graduation rates. More
than 60 percent of that cohort were
accepted to four-year colleges, and
another third were accepted to twoyear
colleges.
"Don't be scared of it," sophomore
Taj Hester told freshman
Andrew Palma during a fall planning
session for the end-of-semester
presentation. "Be prepared,
because the teachers will ask you
questions. Don't just explain it;
explain what you did wrong and
what you did about it. It can really
only help you." I
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Diplomas Count - June 5, 2014

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