This year, Heschel adopted a new policy stating pop quizzes cannot negatively impact students’ grades. The 2024-2025 High School Student Manual states, “Pop quizzes are intended to give teachers and students timely feedback on student learning and understanding of the material. As such, they do not have a negative impact on students’ grades.”
In past years, pop quizzes have had a notable effect on students’ grades, for better and worse. On the one hand, the old policy established frequent and effective opportunities for students to raise their grades; a sloppy homework assignment or unfortunate test was not as detrimental when a high pop quiz grade could redeem one’s average.
On the other hand, zoning out during a single class period could hurt a student’s overall grade if a pop quiz were given the next day. It seemed unfair that one off-day could have substantial repercussions.
Junior Pierce Malter said, “Pop quizzes should test for understanding of the material, and this policy makes it so you cannot be punished if you don’t have an immediate understanding or perfect memory.” Malter continues, “The policy calls into question what teachers think the role of a pop quiz is.”
When standard tests are given, students have the opportunity to prepare, which facilitates the learning process and enables them to make up for anomalous lapses in attention. The new policy therefore strikes a perfect balance: it allows teachers to evaluate their students’ understanding of material, without adding to students’ stress or inadvertently punishing them for small moments they may have missed or not yet processed fully.
Unfortunately, if an assessment is not graded, there are students who will not take it seriously and won’t come prepared for class. Subsequently, these students miss opportunities for relevant feedback.
“It’s a great policy because it still incentivizes students to actively participate without the added stress a pop quiz normally has,” junior Caleb Creizman said. He admits, however, that the stress of failing a pop quiz can act as motivation.
As the second semester begins, grades and report cards are on the forefront of most minds, and many students think that this policy relieves stress and improves grades.