This SoTL project explored sources of student anxiety and motivation across student assessment conditions of traditional numerical grading and pass/fail grading and sought to determine if pass/fail grading was helpful in lowering student anxiety while increasing student motivation to learn. Results indicated that students scored equally well on a…

Learning analytics offers insights into student behaviour and the potential to detect poor performers before they fail exams. If the activity is primarily online (for example computer programming), a wealth of low-level data can be made available that allows unprecedented accuracy in predicting which students will pass or fail. In this paper, we…

Objective: Because medical students experience a considerable amount of stress during training, academic leaders have recognized the importance of developing stress-management programs for medical students. The authors set out to identify all controlled trials of stress-management interventions and determine the efficacy of those interventions.…

Background: A recent article published in "Educational Research" on the reliability of results in National Curriculum testing in England (Newton, "The reliability of results from national curriculum testing in England," "Educational Research" 51, no. 2: 181-212, 2009) suggested that: (1) classification accuracy can be…

Standard-setting research has yielded a rich array of more than 50 standard-setting procedures, but practitioners are likely to be confused about which to use. By synthesizing the accumulated research on standard setting and progress monitoring, this study developed a three-dimensional taxonomy for conceptualizing and operationalizing the various…

Briefly reviews research on student attitudes toward pass-fail grading and describes a study of 471 undergraduates to determine the factors which affect a student's choice between the traditional A-F grading system and the pass-fail alternative in a non-major college science course. (PR)

A survey of the literature points to the conclusion that research thus far has failed to substantiate the success of the pass fail grading option. In light of these findings, it is noted that faculties throughout the country continue to adopt the program. (Author/BY)

This study investigated the validity of the assumption that pass-fail courses correlate with less academic achievement and considered other factors relevant to the basic justification for the pass-fail system. (Author/RK)

The present studies were designed to gather data on student preferences for p-f grading and to determine some of the characteristics of students whoprefer one system over another. (Author)

A variety of opinions from headmasters of schools and admissions officers of colleges were cited as evidence for the practice of continuing usage of grades as indicators for evaluating student progress. (RK)

Study was conducted to compare effects of pass/fail and conventional five point grading systems on student achievement, teaching practices, teaching techniques and student attitudes. The sample consisted of eight sections of chemistry students. Analysis of data indicated lower achievement scores and poorer attitudes of students on pass/fail…

Findings of a study conducted at Iowa State University, Ames, indicated student subjects were not affected by the use of pass-fail grading, and that student teachers were less anxious and more positive about their relationship with their cooperating teachers under pass-fail than under A-F grading. (BP)

This book addresses, in novel form, the question of whether or not the traditional system of grading in American schools is the most educationally useful system of evaluation. Within the dramatic framework of a controversy over grading at Mapleton High School, the authors examine various issues related to the traditional grading system, including…