Students enter the classroom, homework ready, expecting a lecture. Instead, the seats are in rows and the teacher tells them to quickly choose a desk. You can only have a pencil out — anything else might be cheating.
A surprise quiz is commonplace for the high school’s student body, yet according to Maya M. Khanna from Creighton University these quizzes are known inducers of stress and defeat the entire purpose of a testing environment: demonstrating student’s learning. When caught off guard how can students be expected to do their best work?
A Bradford poll conducted during lunch on September 26, asked if students wanted pop quizzes during class; the overwhelming majority said “no!”
The feeling of stress a pop quiz induces makes it difficult to perform well. For some students, they feel that failing a pop quiz taints the entire experience of learning a concept unless they are wholly confident in their learning walking in because of the quick turn-around between learning and being quizzed on it.
Some teachers give pop quizzes as grade boosters, easy ways to improve grades while showing ease with a concept. They pick the easiest questions and tell students they have a few seconds to fill out the answer based on the previous night’s homework. In this case, it seems pop quizzes are meant to help rather than harm a student’s grade.
However, by perpetuating the idea that this quiz is low stakes and easy, students are pressured to feel that they have to perform well or they are a ‘failure.’ This creates an unnecessary grade ‘tanker’ as opposed to ‘helper.’
Research from North Carolina State University also shows that pop quizzes can be an equity issue. If students comprehend assignments in different ways then the time it takes to learn material may be different. Furthermore, not every student can devote all their time and energy to an assignment as they can in class due to a mix of economic and social factors. It’s unfair to expect every student to be prepared for a quiz that they are not aware of.
Additionally, pop quizzes are meant to illustrate understanding of a concept. If a student comes in with questions from the homework and is immediately faced with a quiz they no longer have the opportunity to clear up confusion. According to the same Bradford poll, once students receive a bad grade on the quiz, they are less likely to ask another question about the same topic. This can also discourage students from believing that they are able to grasp the topic and deter them from pursuing these concepts further.
There is no redemption for a pop quiz. If you are unable to do well, teachers give other opportunities in the form of other assignments for redemption. However, if a student can demonstrate understanding outside of a high-pressure quiz environment, should they be penalized anyway?
Meanwhile, teachers believe that pop quizzes are a way to quickly and easily demonstrate comprehension on a topic without wasting too much class time. They believe that these quizzes hold students accountable for actually completing the work on time for class.
But do these quizzes need to be graded? Khanna says, “Students taking ungraded pop quizzes outperformed students taking graded pop quizzes and students taking no quizzes on the final exam.”
One solution may be to have a group discussion where students can take out their notes from an assignment and work together to answer questions. Another option is to give everyone a worksheet, similar to a pop quiz’s format but allow them to ask questions and work with other students. This group work allows students to ask questions without fear of repudiation and to see new perspectives by talking with others about the material. Or, even simpler, still give the quiz but instead of the grade counting, it is used as a way to show what you still need to work on.
Pop quizzes are meant to be a beneficial tool to encourage students to complete their work. But if it does not demonstrate the learning a student has done, it might be time to usher in a new era of teaching.