Implementing Retrieval and Distributed Practice in a Rotating Block Schedule: Boosting Students' Memory and Metacognition.
The ideals of academic excellence are so deeply rooted in "Church documents, history, and practices, supported by Canon Law" (NCEA, 2023, p. 8) that they have become inseparable from Catholic schools' identity and mission. This commitment to academic excellence has long distinguished Catholic schools. Effective curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices not only ensure high standards of learning but they are also the "primary vehicle"--and most ubiquitously experienced expression--of our Catholic mission (Pavur, 2019, p. 1). Recently, heightened attention to high-leverage, research-based practices has driven emerging recommendations for Catholic schools. The newly updated edition of the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools (National Catholic Education Association, 2023) prioritizes research-based practice, most notably the domain for academic excellence emphasizes the critical importance of aligning curriculum and instruction--as well as professional development for teachers--with research on how children and adolescents learn best. Moreover, the standards for academic excellence foreground Catholic education's commitment to whole person formation (McMahon, 2024).However, there remains in many Catholic schools a significant gap between research and practice. Even research-based strategies with overwhelming empirical support are underutilized in all school contexts, including Catholic schools (Carpenter et al., 2022). Bridging this gap offers Catholic schools significant tools for fulfilling their mission of academic excellence. At a recent National Catholic Educational Association conference, Christie Bonfiglio (2024) acknowledged this gap and urged attendees to traverse the gap and embrace research-based instruction. Despite the value of integrating research-based practice, scholars such as Dylan William (2014) have noted the challenges associated with bridging from research to practice, noting that the messy and dynamic nature of the classroom--alongside the limits on teachers' time--may create significant obstacles. With these opportunities and challenges in mind, retrieval practice may offer schools invested in improving learning through research-based practice an attractive entry point: retrieval is relatively easy to implement, takes little class time or preparation for teachers, and promises significant payoff for student memory.
School Context
Bridging the gap between research and practice has been a key priority at one Jesuit secondary school in the Midwest. Guided by its commitment to "prepare students academically to be Ignatian leaders in an increasingly diverse, global, digital, collaborative, and unpredictable world" (2023), the school has implemented a series of comprehensive initiatives aligned with the updated NSBECS standards for academic excellence: a school-wide curriculum project; adoption of a research-based approach to professional learning; significant expansion of student support services; and the creation of an action research center dedicated to enhancing instruction for all learners. To accompany these efforts, the school transitioned from a nine-period, traditional daily schedule to a strategic rotating block. The shift from 40- to 70-minute periods, along with other tweaks to the schedule, aimed not only to reduce the frenetic pace of the traditional school day but also to create space for instructional approaches that promote what Mehta and Fine (2019) define as "deeper learning."
Though the shift to longer class periods achieved many of its intended goals, decreased frequency of class meetings exacerbated an unanticipated obstacle for learning: reduced retention. Anecdotally, according to both teachers and students, students seemed to be having more trouble making learning "stick" (Brown et al., 2014). This perception was supported by troubling trends in testing data: scores on the PSAT and SAT were dropping, particularly in math, and the number of National Merit scholars was on the decline. Teachers, particularly in STEM and foreign language departments, expressed frustration with what they saw as a significantly increased need to reteach material at each class meeting. Students seemed to be learning "less," teachers experienced struggles covering critical course content, and many in the community began to see the extended spacing between instructional periods as a detriment. As a community, a clear problem of practice had emerged: How could we maintain the benefits of a block schedule while mitigating its challenges?
Identifying research-based solutions to this problem emerged as a key priority among the research fellows in the school's action research center. The research fellows--a team of students and faculty members selected to identify, design, and implement action research projects in the classroom--observed student performance data and reflected on their experiences in the classroom. Informed by the core principles of Ignatian Pedagogy and motivated by John Hattie's (2023) work on high-impact strategies, the team closely examined students' learning experiences in the new schedule: What kinds of strategies seemed to most help students remember what they'd learned? In which courses did students feel most confident in their learning, despite the extended spacing between class days? In courses where students saw their learning "stick," what were their teachers doing differently?
It was the students--seniors who had experienced both the traditional and rotating block schedules--who proposed a deep dive into retrieval practice. In their calculus courses, the students reported that the teacher regularly used retrieval to reinforce learning. Despite the rigor of the content, the students reported notable confidence in their knowledge, deeper conceptual understanding, ease of recall, and more efficient review for assessments. Given the benefits for their learning, they wondered why retrieval practice seemed isolated to this one course: Why were more teachers not using retrieval?
Retrieval and Distributed Practice: Two High-Impact Strategies for Improving Learning
Retrieval practice is one of the most empirically supported strategies for boosting memory. Further, it has been shown to have positive effects across myriad learning contexts for learners from early childhood through adulthood across a range of academic subjects (Agarwal et al., 2020). Though scholars' perspectives differ regarding the exact spacing window needed to maximize retrieval benefits, the general consensus is that retrieval benefits learning (Carpenter & Agarwal, 2020). In addition to its benefits for memory, retrieval has been shown to enhance metacognitive capacity (Stanton et al., 2021; Miller & Geraci, 2016), an outcome strongly aligned with Catholic schools' goal of whole-child formation and the fostering of lifelong learners.
The positive effects of retrieval are amplified when paired with spaced (distributed) practice (Agarwal et al., 2021; Carpenter, 2023). In fact, the long-term memory benefits of retrieval are optimal if used when students have just started to "forget" information (Whitman & Kelleher, 2016). Spacing results in effortful learning. When students need to work harder to recall information in retrievals (Pyc & Rawson, 2009), what happens in the brain is much like what happens in the muscles when we lift heavier weights: our neural connections strengthen. Like the concept of progressive overload in the gym, "desirable difficulty" in the classroom can lead to more cognitive gains; Bjork (1994) emphasizes that learning conditions (such as those induced by retrieval) that enhance learning, encoding, and overall memory are ideal for producing this desirable difficulty.
Incidentally, when this Jesuit school adopted a rotating block schedule, it unknowingly created ideal conditions for retrieval: class meetings were now "spaced" by design. What teachers had perceived as an obstacle presented an opportunity. Because students had just enough time to begin forgetting what they had learned, their brains were primed for desirable difficulty and improved learning when teachers used retrieval.
Methods
To explore the efficacy of retrieval and spacing for student learners in Catholic schools, the research team employed a qualitative action research design. Teachers set out to examine how retrieval practice could be implemented most effectively in their disciplines and to understand how students responded. Action research was selected because it requires iterative movements of careful planning, acting, observing, and reflecting within the realistic complexities and nuances of authentic classroom contexts. Action research afforded a particularly promising model in this Jesuit school context because of its alignment with Ignatian Pedagogy, the instructional framework used by Jesuit schools. The Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) frames learning as an interactive cycle of experience, reflection, action, and evaluation (Society of Jesus) that parallels the methodology used in action research (Mertler, 2024).
Six teachers elected to participate in the study for the fall semester. Each participating teacher identified one or two courses (up to four sections in total) for inclusion in the study and each teacher was assigned a random number. Teachers selected one or two "core concepts" in each unit to retrieve at tracked intervals. Depending on the length of the units, teachers used anywhere from two to six retrieval activities (episodes) per unit. Teachers were encouraged to select core concepts that were central to students' learning in their course, with the goal of solidifying essential content and practicing retrieval for key learning objectives. Teachers recorded the following data throughout the one-semester implementation:
* Date of initial learning: the class date on which teachers first provided direct instruction to students on a core concept.
* Retrieval episodes: each time teachers asked students to retrieve a core concept, they recorded both the date of the retrieval and the intersession interval (the number of calendar days between episodes).
* Type(s) of retrieval used: for each retrieval episode, teachers recorded a description of the type of retrieval activity (brain dump, flash cards, practice quiz, concept map, etc.)
* Performance on unit tests and final exams: teachers tracked students' performance and learning by calculating the average percent correct for retrieved and non-retrieved concepts on each unit test and the final exam.
Before beginning the study, teachers completed a modified Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) training on ethics for working with human subjects led by the principal investigator. Teachers also participated in a series of microlearning training sessions to familiarize themselves with research on the benefits of retrieval practice and spacing along with key strategies for utilizing retrieval, including brain dumps, flash cards, practice quizzes, exit tickets, and concept maps. Over the course of their implementation cycles, teachers met biweekly to share the retrieval strategies used and student assessment data. Teachers reflected on assessment data and collaborated with one another to refine implementation. The teachers also met monthly with the student research fellows to solicit student feedback and perspectives. Before and during the implementation, teachers consulted research on retrieval and spacing alongside student data to make informed decisions about how to adapt retrieval and spacing implementation in their classes.
Teachers were instructed to select the core concepts, retrieval strategies, and spacing that best aligned with their course goals and curricular plans. Teacher autonomy to select strategies and concepts for retrieval embedded inherent variability in both implementation and data. To counteract this intended variation from teacher to teacher, several criteria for implementation were standardized for all teachers. All participating teachers agreed to abide by the following protocols. These protocols were selected to maximize benefits and allow for consistent monitoring of student work.
* Retrieval exercises will last no longer than 10 minutes.
* Retrieval exercises will be completed in class under teacher supervision.
* Retrieval exercises will be completed individually by students without the assistance of notes, peers, or other resources/materials.
* Content retrieved will be reviewed with students and correct responses shared immediately or shortly after the retrieval activity.
At the end of each unit, each teacher administered a summative assessment. A semester exam was also given in each course. Teachers coded assessment questions as R (retrieved) or NR (not retrieved), then calculated and recorded the percent correct for R versus NR concepts. After the semester exam, teachers returned assessments to students and reviewed which concepts were retrieved. Teachers then asked students to review their semester exam and compare their performance for retrieved versus non-retrieved concepts. After reviewing the results, students were given a survey with Likert and open-ended narrative questions in which they were asked to reflect on their learning experiences in the course and the impact retrieval had on their learning. Participating teachers also completed a survey to measure their perspectives on retrieval and its impacts on teaching and learning. Survey results were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's (2008) six-phase thematic analysis framework.
Participants
Convenience sampling was used to identify and recruit study participants from teachers' assigned course sections (see Table 1). Students enrolled in those sections were shown a brief, four-minute video defining retrieval practice. Students were then provided with informed assent forms. Parents of eligible students also provided informed consent. 370 students were invited to participate. Our total number of participants was 183 students (n = 183).
Results
Student Assessment Performance
When comparing assessment results for retrieved and non-retrieved core concepts (see Table 2), teachers observed that students, in general, performed better for retrieved than non-retrieved content. This trend was particularly prevalent for teachers 2 and 3. However, most teachers--especially teachers 2, 3, 4, and 6--noted variability over time from student to student: performance on retrieved concepts was not consistently higher for every student for every retrieved concept. Further, teachers noted that student performance was often inconsistent from concept to concept. When averaging student assessment scores over time, retrieved concepts performed slightly better for all teachers. However, the degree was not as steep as some of the experimental research on retrieval showed.
Frequency and Timing of Spacing Intervals
Examining the spacing intervals used by teachers shed some light on student performance data. The teachers who saw the smallest difference in performance for retrieved and non-retrieved concepts also had the longest spacing intervals: teachers 4 and 5 had notably longer intervals for retrievals, both for the first and for subsequent retrieval exercises. Teacher 2 had the shortest average intervals between retrievals and also saw the best performance for retrieved compared to non-retrieved concepts. Surprisingly, frequency did not correlate as closely with performance. Teachers who used more retrievals did not necessarily see higher performance for retrieved concepts.
Retrieval Types
Teachers also recorded and evaluated the types of retrievals they used (see Table 4). By the end of the semester, all teachers were utilizing short practice quizzes. Teachers and students saw practice quizzes as useful because they were easy to grade and offered clear checks for understanding. Interestingly, the teachers for whom retrieved concepts outperformed non-retrieved concepts (teachers 2, 3, and 6) were those who also paired practice quizzes with brain dumps. This combination of free-form and structured recall may offer benefits for student learning. Teachers 3 and 6 experimented with a wider variety of retrieval types, offering a third type consistently.
Teachers' reflections and analysis provided additional layers of complexity to these data. Looking only at the data, retrieval appeared to produce better assessment outcomes for teachers 2 and 3. However, teachers 4 and 5 noted in their reflections that they had selected "very difficult" core concepts for retrieval. Both teachers were strategic and intentional about using retrieval to improve students' performance on material that, historically, they had struggled with. Furthermore, teachers 4 and 5 were the only two teachers of honors and AP courses. When these teachers reviewed their students' performance data, they believed that retrieval had "leveled the playing field" for concepts that had underperformed in the past, which they saw as a sign of retrieval's effectiveness.
Post-Study Survey Results
Student Survey
At the conclusion of the study, participating students completed surveys inviting them to evaluate and reflect on their experiences using retrieval practice in the course. Students' responses to these Likert-scale questions suggest overwhelmingly positive attitudes toward retrieval (see Table 5). The vast majority of students agreed that retrieval benefited their learning, in terms of both their understanding and performance. Students also reported that they felt comfortable doing retrieval as a result of practicing in this course, despite initially finding retrieval uncomfortable and difficult (see discussion of narrative responses below). This finding is encouraging in light of research that shows that students do not initially appreciate the benefits of retrieval and may find its difficulty a sign of failed learning and thus select other, less effective strategies (Hui et al., 2022). With practice, teachers can help students become comfortable with difficult strategies that benefit their learning in the long run.
The student survey also included two open-ended, narrative response questions, which aimed to gauge students' understanding of retrieval's purpose and overall usefulness compared to other learning strategies:
Q4: In your own words, what was the purpose of the retrieval exercises used in class this semester? Q5: Overall, compared to other learning activities in the course, how useful do you believe retrieval practice was in helping you to learn? Explain.
We conducted a thematic content analysis (see Table 6) of students' responses to both questions and found that students' perceptions of retrieval's benefits aligned strongly with the benefits outlined in research on retrieval.
Students frequently noted that retrieval practice solidified and encoded memory and improved ease of recall. Students identified with nearly the same level of frequency the metacognitive benefits of retrieval, noting that retrieval practice heightened their awareness of how well they knew (or did not know) important material. Furthermore, students frequently stated their belief that retrieval helped them identify concepts for further review, practice, or study, particularly in preparation for exams. As anticipated, students frequently noted the difficulty associated with practicing retrieval--they described it as "hard" and "challenging"--but said that, with practice, retrieval became easier over time. Along these lines, students often noted their awareness that retrieval is not a "quick fix" learning strategy, but, in contrast to common approaches like cramming, helps to build knowledge over time.
Teachers' primary goal for retrieval was to improve student memory and mitigate the effects of less frequent class meetings. The qualitative data gathered and analyzed through this research study offer compelling evidence that retrieval helped them to achieve this goal. Though improved metacognition was not an intended outcome, teachers felt that students' increased metacognitive monitoring, or awareness of their own learning, was one of the most significant benefits of the study. Hattie (2023), Whitman & Kelleher (2016), and Brown et al. (2014) have noted the metacognitive benefits associated with retrieval practice. Jesuit schools--and Catholic schools in general--seek to form the whole person. The deepening of reflective capacity, self-regulation, autonomy, openness to growth, and capacity for self-directed learning is paramount to our mission. Students' identification of these benefits was particularly consoling for participating teachers. Before implementation, teachers hypothesized that retrieval practice would help to mitigate challenges with content retention. What they did not anticipate was students' explicit willingness to embrace difficulty as part of the learning process, their deepened appreciation of what it means to really "know" and understand their course content, and their improved metacognitive capacity.
Finally, when asked to compare retrieval to other strategies for learning used in the course, students viewed retrieval favorably. Q5 asked students: "Overall, compared to other learning activities in the course, how useful do you believe retrieval practice was in helping you to learn? Explain." Responses were coded for attitude as positive, neutral, or negative compared to other strategies. The vast majority of students' responses (81.6%) highlighted retrieval's benefits compared to other strategies, while some (12.2%) expressed a neutral opinion and only a small minority of students (6.1%) indicated that retrieval was less useful in helping them learn compared to other strategies. Though research has shown that students tend to find retrieval difficult and often defer to more traditional study methods such as rereading or reviewing notes, these results show that the students favored retrieval over other strategies after participating in the study.
Teacher Post-Study Survey Results
Teachers' attitudes toward retrieval and spaced practice at the conclusion of the study were also highly positive. Like the students, participating teachers identified a range of benefits. All participating teachers noted that student learning, understanding, and retention of key concepts seemed to be affected positively by using retrieval. Furthermore, teachers underscored retrieval's effectiveness as a tool to "check for understanding," echoing the students' observation that retrieval is a "true test of knowledge." Teachers highlighted the value of inviting students to review and reflect on their own performance data, observing that students were not only surprised but excited to see the effect that retrieval had on their exam performance. Further, the teachers agreed that retrieval strengthens not only rote memory but also conceptual understanding. They attributed this to the inherent presence of desirable difficulty and effortful learning inherent in retrieval. Furthermore, teachers perceived that retrieval has positive effects on students' mindsets toward studying and learning. Based on their experiences using retrieval and observing its effects in their classrooms, the teachers posited that practicing retrieval helps students learn effective study strategies, recognize the value of repetition and practice, and even embrace a growth mindset.
Participating teachers also highlighted key benefits for their instructional practice. The most commonly cited benefit was increased attention to planning and purposeful structuring of learning. Even teachers who had implemented retrieval as an instructional strategy in the past noted that increased attention to retrieval timing and frequency improved their overall course planning, a benefit that supports Lopez-Martin et al.'s (2023) finding that a reflective attitude and heightened attention to planning improves student outcomes. Teachers also observed that paying closer attention to student performance data for R and NR concepts amplified the accuracy of their checks for understanding. At times, students' performance on retrieval exercises challenged teachers' assumptions about what students may or may not be retaining. Just like the students, who noted their increased awareness of what they "really" knew, teachers admitted that what students "seem" to retain is not always reflective of what they "actually" retain.
Teachers also noted some challenges for their implementation. Despite the flexibility in timing allowed within the study, some teachers still felt constrained by the varied frequency of class meetings created by the rotating block schedule. Teachers also hypothesized that a one-semester implementation process provided limited data. Teacher and student qualitative responses support the idea that retrieval can be a "slow burn" for students, who grew over time to appreciate retrieval and its benefits though they initially found it difficult. Given the time it took to get students comfortable with retrieval, teachers believed that running the study for the full academic year might have yielded even more positive results. Some teachers also used retrieval less frequently and felt that using retrieval more frequently might have strengthened its effects and increased students' comfort, a sentiment that was supported by the data on frequency.
Implications for Practice
Collectively, our results support the implementation of retrieval practice as a high-impact strategy that improves learning. The scope of metacognitive and retention benefits, particularly when considered alongside the minimal effort and time needed to incorporate retrieval, is encouraging. Our study also showed that spacing and type of retrieval may matter for learning. Shorter retrieval intervals and retrievals conducted closer to the assessments seemed to strengthen the effects, offering support for retrieval exercises--particularly practice tests--as a pre-assessment study tool. Teachers may enhance the effects of retrieval by combining retrieval types, utilizing a mix of practice tests and other recall activities such as brain dumps. Further, the study offers some support for teachers who may choose to use retrieval specifically for difficult concepts. Retrieval may be a particularly compelling tool for teachers and schools interested in facilitating students' agency and autonomy. The teachers' implementation in a range of classrooms through action research affirmed findings in research on retrieval that suggest providing structure for and practice with retrieval facilitates students' metacognitive monitoring, awareness of the importance of repetition for learning, and ability to set goals for studying. For Catholic schools committed to achieving academic excellence, fostering research-based, high-impact instructional tools such as retrieval aligns well with our mission.
Study Limitations
Despite the benefits of retrieval practice observed by teachers and students, varied implementation styles and strategies across teachers in this study limit the conclusiveness of the results. Limitations in how retrieval activities were defined and recorded across classrooms introduced challenges for reliability and internal validity. Because teachers were given autonomy to design retrieval exercises aligned with their course content and goals, this resulted in low standardization for the retrievals themselves. Even though all teachers elected to utilize practice quizzes, for example, the exact length and format of those quizzes differed from teacher to teacher and unit to unit. Though this did mean that teachers' implementation was more authentic to typical classroom practice, it makes it difficult to be confident of the validity of a comparison of their results. It is also possible that other factors in individual teachers' practice that were not controlled for--effectiveness of direct instruction, 1-1 instruction and support during office hours, or other learning strategies used--influenced outcomes.
Clearer protocols and consistent tracking mechanisms with less flexibility for modification would also be beneficial in future studies. Future efforts will need to prioritize standardized data collection and implementation fidelity to strengthen reliability and uncover more nuanced relationships. Doing so will allow teachers to evaluate retrieval practice as a precision-aligned instructional tool rather than a broadly promising strategy. Future research could examine threshold effects such as how many retrievals are needed for meaningful gains or investigate how different learners respond to varying spacing structures. Standardizing when, for whom, and under what conditions retrieval is most impactful would strengthen its role not only as evidence-based strategy, but also as a scalable and equitable intervention across diverse classrooms.
Conclusion
Despite the limitations of the study, our experience implementing retrieval and spaced practice is encouraging for Catholic school educators hoping to achieve academic excellence for all students and to continue to build systems of instruction that form the whole child. High-impact, research-based practices such as retrieval strengthen learning and also shape the learner. Our students--and our teachers--improved their ability to be intentional, self-aware practitioners. This outcome alone moves us closer to our mission of building competent, confident, and discerning young people who engage with the world as lifelong learners.
References
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Terra A. Caputo (1), Kaitlyn C. Hoffman (2), Cindy Reagan (1), Guy D. Savastano (1), Brandon J. Foster (1), Kathryn Hallal (1), Kristin Miller-Gecsi (1), Thomas A. Yarcusko (1)
(1) Saint Ignatius High School
(2) Loyola University Chicago
https://doi.org/10.15365/joce.2901082026
Table 1 Retrieval Study: Participating Teachers, Courses, and Students Teacher Course Grade Level # Sections 1 Algebra I 9 Intervention/Remedial 1 2 English III 11 Standard 2 3 Chemistry 10 Standard 4 4 Chemistry 10 Honors/Advanced Placement 2/2 5 Calculus AB 11/12 Advanced Placement 3 6 Biology 9 Standard 4 Teacher # Student Participants (n) 1 2 2 19 3 53 4 25/13 5 35 6 38
Table 2 Average Percent Correct: Retrieved Versus Non-Retrieved Concepts by Teacher Teacher Retrieved Non-Retrieved 1 95.5% 93% 2 83% 78% 3 79% 73% 4 83% 82% 5 70% 69% 6 84% 82% Total (M) 82.4% 79.5%
Table 3
Retrieval Frequency and Spacing by Teacher
Teacher Mean # days between direct Mean Interspacing Interval
instruction and first retrieval (days between retrievals)
1 4 7.25
2 6.25 3.25
3 4 9.25
4 8.12 26.5
5 12.4 25
6 3.2 6.6
Total (M) 6.3 13
Teacher Mean # of retrievals per
core concept
1 3.6
2 2.5
3 2.66
4 1.5
5 3.2
6 1.6
Total (M) 2.5
Table 4 Types of Retrieval Used by Teacher Teacher Brain Dump Concept Map Practice Quizzes Exit Ticket 1 X 2 X X 3 X X X 4 X X 5 X 6 X X X
Table 5 Student Post-Study Survey Results Survey Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Item Agree Agree Agree Disagree% Retrieval exercises helped 14% 50% 22% 9% me understand the course material better Retrieval exercises helped 22% 34% 30% 10% me perform better on assessments I feel comfortable doing 31% 37% 21% 8% retrieval practice as a result of this course Survey Strongly Item Disagree% Disagree% Retrieval exercises helped 4% 0% me understand the course material better Retrieval exercises helped 3% 0% me perform better on assessments I feel comfortable doing 2% 0% retrieval practice as a result of this course
Table 6
Thematic Content Analysis of Narrative Student Responses
Theme Subthemes Description
Commits to Solidifies learning Students described the
memory Cements in the brain impact retrieval has on
Long-term memory long-term memory and
retention, highlighting
the enduring facility with
concepts retrieved.
Promotes recall Brings back knowledge Students described the
Easier to remember impact retrieval had on
Recall ability their ability to recall with
greater ease material
already learned.
Improves Awareness of learning Students described the
metacognition Authentic learning impact of retrieval on their
Check for understanding metacognitive awareness
Study priorities and monitoring, showing
them what they had really
learned and what they still
had to study and practice.
Challenges me Difficult Students described
Uncomfortable retrieval as hard,
Challenge challenging, and
uncomfortable, even when
discussing its benefits.
Provides Repetition Students described the
valuable Improved over time value and importance of
repetition Repeated practice repetition and repeated
practice for learning.
Improves Test preparation Students described the
assessment impacts retrieval had
performance on test preparation and
performance.
Effective
studying
improved test
scores
Theme Illustrative Quotes
Commits to "It impacted my learning
memory because usually I remember
things I learned, but at most
I would only remember it for
two weeks. With retrieval it
brings the things we learned
back up and it stays longer
in my memory."
Promotes recall "I think it drilled the material
that we were reviewing in
my head and I feel like it was
much easier to remember the
words that we used much
more than the words that we
did not retrieve."
Improves "Retrieval was helpful
metacognition because it helped me to
remember but it also helped
me find what I need to work
on. It showed me what I had
to study."
Challenges me "It made it difficult to work
through problems that I did
not remember and I feel
that helped me remember it
better later."
Provides "The retrieval helped me
valuable because it was repetitive.
repetition When you do things over and
over again, eventually it will
become a habit and stick."
Improves "This helped me a lot. In
assessment other classes, I usually rely
performance on my notes to remember,
but this made me actually
remember with no other
tools. Looking at the data, I
scored much better when we
Effective did retrieval on those things."
studying
improved test
scores
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| Title Annotation: | EDUCATION IN PRACTICE |
|---|---|
| Author: | Caputo, Terra A.; Hoffman, Kaitlyn C.; Reagan, Cindy; Savastano, Guy D.; Foster, Brandon J.; Hallal, |
| Publication: | Journal of Catholic Education |
| Article Type: | Report |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | May 19, 2026 |
| Words: | 5704 |
| Previous Article: | From principles to Implementation: Evaluating Social Justice and Inclusive Education in Holy Cross Elite Institutions of Bangladesh. |
| Next Article: | Special Issue: The Role of Sports in Catholic Schools. |
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