How do students perceive alternative approaches to grading? Do those perceptions change over time? This mixed methods study addressed these questions for three alternative grading approaches - democratic contract grading, specifications grading, and "ungrading" - in a community college context. While alternative grading models in higher…

Systems of higher education have been founded in formal grading structures for several decades. However, recent data has shown that traditional letter grades may not be effective for true student learning and engagement. Pedagogical data shows traditional grading formats are not always effective in evaluating learning. Ungrading is a system of…

Healthcare educators are encouraged to provide both skill-based practical exams and interprofessional experiences to prepare students for clinical practice. With skill-based exams come increased student stress and anxiety. This article reports on the development, exploratory outcomes, and lessons learned from an ungraded objective structured…

In this study, I examined the impact of periodic pop quizzes on cumulative final exam scores. Specifically, I compared the impact of using no quizzes, graded quizzes, and ungraded quizzes on final exam scores of introductory psychology students. Quizzed students also completed a survey with questions probing how the students felt about the…

The relationship between assessment and learning in higher education often comes down to a single thing: a grade. Despite widespread criticism of grades as inexact tools, whose overemphasis undermines student learning and negatively affects student well-being, they continue to be the norm in the assessment of student learning. This paper analyses…

We may need to make students more rather than less anxious about writing.

In order to dimensionalize further the construct of self concept through within-network nomological research, nine different self-scales descriptive of academic settings were administered to students in grades 1-12, their peers, and their teachers. The subjects were administered the Affective Perception Inventory (API), which measures nine…

This study investigated the relationship between children's ability to conserve on Piagetian tasks and six measures of the openness of classrooms which comprise the Dimensions of Schooling Questionnaire (DISC): (1) individualization of instruction; (2) student independence; (3) environmental flexibility; (4) nongradedness; (5) flexibility of…