Question for instructors

[NHRef]

Question for instructors that teach the grade 8 class. When you teach, what is the policy/process for students below a 75% on the test? Is it a clear pass/fail, any second chance, any other tactic?

[gosellit]

Question for instructors that teach the grade 8 class. When you teach, what is the policy/process for students below a 75% on the test? Is it a clear pass/fail, any second chance, any other tactic?

This is from the 2007 Referee Administrative Handbook

Notes and Comments

Note B: Retaking Exams:If a person does not pass the written examination, the entire examination must be retaken after a recommended minimum waiting period of one month.

[nsa]

In Mass. the policy is to retest after 4 weeks (sooner with permission of the SDI).

We have very, very few failures since the proliferation of Gr. 9 badges. By the time a kid takes the Gr. 8 course they either get it or they have quit.

[nsa]

This is from the 2007 Referee Administrative Handbook
...

That policy has been in place for a very long time, but instructors were often asked to verbally retest a student that "came close". The towns needed referees and the state needed numbers.

The subjectivity was too great. With the Gr. 9 course churning out the cannon fodder we get a more intelligent Gr. 8 candidate.

[NHRef]

My question is more to the day of the test, is this a "1 shot" deal or is there a line where "close enough" and you get a verbal quiz on some you got wrong, or retake a section, or change a few answers, or......

I've seen/heard a bunch of different ways to deal with students who don't get the 75 on test day, just looking for ways other organizations handle say a student who got a 73? What about a 68? Is it "sorry, you can retake", or is there some other approach states, or even instructors, use?

Also, what is a "normal" failure rate out of 20-25 students? We don't see many grade 9's, so grade 8 is the "new" refs.

[nsa]

Less than 75 is a failure. Period. No gray area.

In the dark ages our league paid for the referee course - no strings attached. The failure rate for Gr. 8 was over 60%. We changed and had the referee ante up to take the course and the league would reimburse successful candidates. I think failure dropped to below 10%. With the advent of the Gr. 9 program the failure rate is less than 5%.


Encourage your organization to embrace the Gr. 9 badge. Two-thirds of the new referees are out of the program within two years. That's a lot of wasted instructional hours.

[refmike]

My DDI informed me that the minimum waiting period applied to referee re-registations or upgrades and did not apply to new registrations.

In my classes if someone gets a grade between 70 and 75, I am allowed to "quiz them up" by taking them aside and asking them a few of the questions they got wrong (not true/false), allowing them to draw the field situation and then tell me the correct answer and WHY it is correct. If they get to 75 I stop and certify them.

For grades between 60 & 70, I give them a few days to re-study the laws and then retest them. Anyone below 60 can go to another class and retake the test with them (attending sessions not required unless they missed a session in my class). We don't have grade 9 classes any more in this area.

Normal grade 8 class size is 30-35 and I usually have only 2-4 initial fails, most of who pass on retest.

[CalCard]

In my area (Northern California is broken up into Districts), Generally 71 and below get to retake the test after the prescribed waiting period, and providing the location (different club) hosting the next has room in the class and has notified the DDI.

72 may get an opportunity to get to answer questions... also taken into consideration whether they missed a night.. and class behaviour.

73/74 will likely answer some questions.

Just came from test night this evening (helped grade some tests for a fellow instructor) and of the 30+ attendees we had 5-6 failures. Only 1 was an older/adult ref. The others were young youth players... 14-15 years old.

Interestingly... no quiz opportunities. The failures were very clear... 71 and below.