Factors that cause poor examination passing rates and high dropout rates among primary school girls in Malawi were analysed. First hand data was collected by conducting a survey in all the three regions of Malawi. The respondents to the questionnaire were girls (402) who are repeating the last class in primary schools (Standard 8), primary school…

Much of the recent research on homework focuses on using online, web-based, or computerized homework systems. These systems have many reported capabilities and benefits, including the ability to randomize values, which enables multiple attempts by a student or to reduce academic dishonesty. This study reports on the impact of using randomized…

Accountability demands place tremendous pressures on high schools to meet specific standards. To satisfy demands, grading policies are becoming more liberal. Grade inflation is the result and a growing concern. This controversial subject contains a number of dangers. To combat the trend, teachers must realize the impact of grade inflation and take…

Good quality, timely feedback is a key factor to help students achieve their full potential. Increased class sizes have put significant strain on the ability to return work promptly without compromising feedback quality. In the current study, two screencasting technologies were used to produce audiovisual feedback. For essays, Jing was used,…

Educators seeking to reform grading must combat five long-held traditions that stand as formidable obstacles to change: (1) Grades should provide the basis for differentiating students; (2) grade distributions should resemble a bell-shaped curve; (3) grades should be based on students' standing among classmates; (4) poor grades prompt students to…

In her recent "Teaching English in the Two-Year College" ("TETYC") article, Denise Marchionda argues for a grading system in her first-year writing course that turns over responsibility to students for earning grades. The approach, which she calls "the point-by-point grading system," is a variation on a contract grading approach in which each…

Previous research has examined differences between students and faculty regarding the weight of effort in assigning grades. Here, students and faculty responded to questions regarding the relative weight of performance and effort on final grades and what letter grades faculty should assign across different types of courses. The authors asked these…

We study how the relationship between students' cognitive ability and their school grades depends on institutional contexts. In a simple abstract model, we show that unless competence standards are set at above-school level or the variation of competence across schools is low, students' competence valuation will be heterogeneous, with weaker…

This paper extends the literature on grader variation and the role of moderation and socialisation processes in reducing this variation. It offers a fresh categorisation of academics' assessment beliefs and expectations, and uses this categorisation to analyse the interaction between implicit and explicit expectations in relation to grader…

This paper aims to demonstrate the benefits of introducing the typical course grading process to a work-integrated learning course in exercise science in order to motivate students to produce their best efforts in assessment tasks relevant to their future employability. The course had incorporated a non-graded pass/fail system of assessment since…

The aim of this study is to investigate the questions that are used by teachers. In broader sense the intention is to focus on questions as part of teachers' formal as well as informal assessments. We will mainly concentrate on how students are assessed and how the questions in the assessments are formed and marked. The research is mainly…

Although relatively little attention has been given to the voice assessment of student work, at least when compared with more traditional forms of text-based review, the attention it has received strongly points to a promising form of review that has been hampered by the limits of an emerging technology. A fresh review of voice assessment in light…

This research paper explores students' motivation and teachers' teaching practices towards the writing of compositions in the conventional paper-based (paper and pencil) and the online blogs mode. Six classes of Grade 5 (224 students) and four English teachers in an elementary-level future school in Singapore were involved in this study. A total…

This dissertation examines high school students' perspectives on social studies homework. Specifically, it uses the high school student perspective to determine the types of social studies homework that students perceive most benefit them academically and developmentally. In addition, it examines how homework should be evaluated. Findings are…

The author says it's not enough just to have less homework or even better homework. We should change the fundamental expectation in our schools so that students are asked to take schoolwork home only when there's a reasonable likelihood that a particular assignment will be beneficial to most of them. The bottom line: No homework except for those…