testing process

[bushidomartialarts]

hi all. i was going to post this in the school owner forum, but decided i'd like the opinions of students and instructors alike on this one.

i run a school (about 120 students) and i'm seriously considering a major change in our testing process.

we've been doing the test monthly, come when you're ready sort of thing. we get a little less than 1/4 of our student body testing each month.

what i'm thinking of doing is changing to a process where we have rank testing every 4 months, but see to it that (just about) everybody tests on those days.

advantages i see:
* curriculum design becomes goal-oriented, which lends more energy to class
* borderline students may take their training more seriously. i mean, when was the last time you asked your college prof if you could take the final next month instead?
* test days can become a huge event what with everybody showing up
* i think it will create esprit de corps and general enthusiasm as the whole student body ramps up for test day
* four small tests take more work to run than one very large test

disadvantages i see:
* it might create a factory-type feel to the whole process
* students who go on vacation and wind up behind the curve are in a lot more trouble than the existing system
* we're a kenpo school, and some of the higher belt ranks might be crowded to stick 'em in 4 months' time

any critiques, thoughts, ideas, experience, questions, comments and dirty jokes would be appreciated. i'm leaning heavily towards this idea but would like some reality checking before making it so.

 

[Grenadier]

Keep in mind, you can have your cake, and eat it, too!

We hold exams every 3 months for most folks. For most kyu grades, taking 3 months between each belt is a reasonable time, especially since they really start stepping it up as they get closer to black belt.

If, however, someone has really stepped it up, or if he missed the exam and was able to make up the required hours in the first two months, I'll let him take a private exam, at a slightly higher cost.

The ones who really step it up, and train their hearts out, are going to be the same ones who would have taken more of the monthly tests anyways.

If he (the guy who missed the test because of not enough training) can get "back on track" to test on a quarterly basis, I'll strongly encourage it.

The way I see it, if someone is truly ready to take on the responsibilities of the next rank, then there's no reason to hold him back, if he can demonstrate his ability to do so. There's really nothing to be gained by holding someone back for another three months in such cases.

 

[searcher]

I do something like Grenadier. Run my tests once every quarter now, used to do it every 6 mos. The advantage to the 6 mos testing was that with them spread out that far the students made sure they were ready for the test and made sure they were going to pass it. Some did not and they worked even harder than before. If you hold them to often it becomes kind of well...........boring and soemwhat expected. The students tend to slack off a bit, IMO. I say go for it. You can always change it back.

 

[jdinca]

I guess it really depends on what you want the testing process to emphasize to your students. There are good and bad points to pretty much all forms of testing used.

Our school is a large one. We have about 350 students. We hold a Belt Board once a month with around 15 BBs and instructors present, sometimes more. Belt ranks test as a group and each students private instructor needs to be present to give input about the student when the decision to pass or not is being made.

We also test in private lessons, especially at the lower belt levels. I can pass any of my students based on my opinion up to Orange II. After that, I'll pull in another instructor, or two to watch the test and give their opinions. When it takes time to test for Blue, there must be some of the higher ranked BB's present and above that, one of the two Masters and several other BBs have to be present.

We also do the stripe thing and those can be handed out pretty much anytime by any instructor with some exceptions.

 

[MBuzzy]

IMHO, biggest problem with quarterly tests or semi-annual, or something like that is that if you have a busy month and can only attend class a handfull of times or if you are sick or away on testing day, you have to wait another 3-6 months to test again.

Although, I think that this is a great idea if there are rules (as other people have said) to account for people like that. For those who will be on vacation, away for work, have a big project to deal with at work, etc and who have the foresight to tell you ahead of time. Although that can snowball into testing every month anyway!

 

[The Kidd]

We have alot of students in our school so we test every month up thru Blue and then every 3 to 4 months for Red and up.

 

[stickarts]

We test every 5 - 6 weeks and that works well for us.
Some test privately.

 

[Steel Tiger]

I am coming from a very different grading system it would appear. We have only five grades. For the first three, students are continually assessed and then I examine them privately. For the highest two grades there is a public grading allowing the students to showcase their learning and knowledge to the rest of the class. Works well for us, but our school is quite small.

 

[Iron Leopard]

I'll take the 120 student example. Last 120 student dojo I was at. we tested every month and only those who were ready.

most are ready for yellow before 3-4 months especially adults you dont' want to hold someone back in the first couple of belts who is gifted.

Sometimes on the tests I would have only 6-12 students depending on the make up of the studio at the time..other times it would be much higher than 25% of the studio testing. it all depends. if you test every month it gives you more flexiblity.