Many 4-year public institutions face significant pedagogical challenges due to the high ratio of students to teaching team members. To address the issue, we developed a workflow using the programming language R as a method to rapidly grade multiple-choice questions, adjust for errors, and grade answer-dependent style multiple-choice questions,…

It is widely acknowledged in research that common criteria and aligned standards do not result in consistent assessment of such a complex performance as the final undergraduate thesis. Assessment is determined by examiners' understanding of rubrics and their views on thesis quality. There is still a gap in the research literature about how…

Holistic judgement is an appealing approach for many assessment contexts due to its perceived simplicity and efficiency. However, it has been somewhat under-explored conceptually. Drawing on examples from assessment contexts including vocational performance, comparative judgement and the use of holistic judgement in teacher assessment for high…

Responding to growing interests in alternative assessment practices, this article examines ungrading in two composition courses at a public university classified as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, detailing its implementation by two instructors in an Accelerated Learning Program composition class and a standalone composition class. Utilizing…

Historically speaking, students were judged long before they were marked. The tradition of marking, or scoring, pieces of work students offer for assessment is little more than two centuries old, and was introduced mainly to cope with specific problems arising from the growth in the numbers graduating from universities as the industrial revolution…

This article seeks to illuminate the gap between UK policy and practice in relation to the use of criteria for allocating grades. It critiques criterion-referenced grading from three perspectives. Twelve lecturers from two universities were asked to "think aloud" as they graded two written assignments. The study found that assessors made…

This study examines score variations and differences in the reliability of ratings between English-as-a-second-language (ESL) and native English (NE) authored papers in a graduate course. Generalizability (G-) theory was used as a framework for analysis because it is powerful in detecting rater variability and the relative contributions of…

The following article discusses holistic grading as implemented in a first-year undergraduate calculus course. The intent of this manner of grading is to distinguish both students that truly master the material and those that have not even a limited understanding from the majority of the student body. (Contains 6 figures.)

When assessment tasks are set for students in universities and colleges, a common practice is to advise them of the criteria that will be used for grading their responses. Various schemes for using multiple criteria have been widely advocated in the literature. Each scheme is designed to offer clear benefits for students. Breaking down holistic…

This study investigated the functions of annotations, the role of annotations in markers' decision-making processes, whether annotations conform to conventions, and whether these vary according to subject area. Across subjects a number of scripts were analysed to survey which annotations are subject specific and which are more general. Twelve…

Proposes that in-depth assessment of student writing is the best and most effective way of grading papers and determining student needs. Includes a sample assessment scale. (CRH)

Research has established that a variety of factors predict educators' perceptions of students' performance; however, no studies have looked at the impact of educators' political views. The present experiment investigated the effect of educators' political biases on their grading of student essays. Participants included 122 volunteers who were…

Two kinds of instruments, atomistic versus holistic, offer different approaches to the grading of writing. This paper briefly discusses the pros and cons of these two philosophies of grading. In addition, the paper presents a holistic, primary-trait scoring instrument that has been used successfully to judge editorials by breaking down the…

One approach to writing across the curriculum--microthemes--involves short writing assignments such as summary writing, thesis support, inductive reasoning, and quandary posing. Using microthemes in accounting can ease the burden for instructors trying to provide useful evaluative feedback to improve student writing. (SK)

Outlines critical weaknesses of many assessment procedures. Argues that, to be meaningful, the act of assessment must in some way enhance the learning process. Discusses establishing purpose for assessment and selecting criteria. Outlines alternative assessment techniques. (SR)