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…

This study aimed to examine kindergarten children's performance and strategies when answering different types of numerosity estimation questions. To this end, interviews were conducted with 44 children (aged 61-80 months) in an online setting, during which they were asked nine estimation questions of three types. These questions (open-ended,…

In this latest installment of an ongoing series of "Kappan" articles revealing the power of student-involved classroom assessment FOR learning, Rick Stiggins examines how the emotional dynamics of student success or failure impact each learner's sense of academic confidence or self-doubt moving forward. Those dynamics, he contends, have…

Individual readiness assurance tests (iRATs) are frequently graded in team-based learning (TBL) classrooms, with the goal of incentivizing individual pre-class preparation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether shifting to an ungraded iRAT process affects student preparation and learning, as measured using assessment scores, and…

The author provides information about reliability and areas that educators should examine in determining if an assessment is consistent and trustworthy for use, and how it should be interpreted in making decisions about students. Reliability areas that are discussed in the column include internal consistency, test-retest or stability, inter-scorer…

This ethnographic research was conducted to investigate the transition processes of children from preschool to primary school. The data were collected through observations, interviews and document analysis over three phases (preschool, summer break, primary school) and analyzed through interpretive content analysis. The results revealed that the…

Students' talent and potential cannot be served until they are recognized by schools or caregivers. While the field of gifted education has had success in identifying talent among many students with talents in reading and mathematics, those with spatial talents are often overlooked. This article reviews how we might identify spatial talent using…

Students' talent and potential cannot be served until they are recognized by schools or caregivers. While the field of gifted education has had success in identifying many students with talents in reading and mathematics, those with spatial talents are often overlooked. This article reviews how we might identify spatial talent using traditional…

In classroom assessments, examinees can often answer test items multiple times, resulting in sequential multiple-attempt data. Sequential diagnostic classification models (DCMs) have been developed for such data. As student learning processes may be aligned with a hierarchy of measured traits, this study aimed to develop a sequential hierarchical…

One of the most important, and neglected, aspects of the school assessment process is the feedback phase. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the extent to which feedback is being conducted, training in feedback, and the types of feedback practices used in school settings. One hundred thirty-two school assessment professionals…

Knowledge maps have been widely used in knowledge elicitation and representation to evaluate and guide students' learning. To effectively evaluate maps, instructors must select the most informative map features that capture students' knowledge constructs. However, there is currently no clear and consistent criteria to select such features, as…

School leaders struggle in their efforts to implement standards-based grading reforms in large part because they fail to address the inconsistency in grading practices among individual teachers. This article describes three crucial steps necessary to gain greater consistency in teachers' grading practices: (1) Reaching consensus on a purpose…

Peer assessment has been widely studied as a replacement for traditional evaluation, not only by reducing the professor's workload but mainly by benefiting students' engagement and learning. Although several works successfully validate its accuracy and fairness, more research must be done on how students' pre-existing social relationships affect…

Although school psychologists often comment on examinee motivation in their reports, systematic evaluation of effort is not common practice. Empirical assessment of performance effort provides critical evidence for the validity of evaluations and will likely lead to more valid assessments, recommendations, and placements. This article focuses on…

In a period where digital transformation has become a buzzword in every industry, the higher education sector can also be further improved using digital transformation. This study explores the limitations faced when supervising and evaluating the interns manually and develops an information systems-based solution to overcome such identified…