Date of Conferral

8-18-2025

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Jennifer Seymour

Abstract

A grading policy was implemented in a Northeastern suburban public school district that left it to curriculum teams to define the amount of time between the original test and its retake resulting in a slight decrease in high school students’ geometry end-of-year state exam scores. Guided by Bloom’s theory of mastery learning, the purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to investigate if there were statistically significant differences between high school students’ geometry end-of-year state exam scores or between high school students’ geometry math growth scores when controlling for the preassessment score differentiated by three schemes of retake timing: short-term, end of quarter, and anytime. The Welch ANOVA analyzed the difference in high school students’ (N = 1197) geometry end-of-year exam scores differentiated by retake timing and determined how much time was given between the original test and its retake was statistically significant, (p = .009). A Games-Howell post hoc test determined end-of-year scores decreased when the amount of time between the original exam and its retake was increased from the 2-3 week to anytime. However, there were validity issues with these results. An ANCOVA analyzed the difference in high school students’ math growth scores when controlling for the preassessment score differentiated by retake timing and determined the amount of time given between the original test and its retake was not statistically significant. A policy paper was created recommending modification of how assessments are tracked so an improved data set can be created for future analysis. By optimizing data collection, positive social change, including the ability to improve processes and evaluate changes in practice, may result in improved student learning.

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