Describes one set of standards developed to evaluate student reports in a technical writing course. (HOD)

Outlines a proposed grade reporting system designed to standardize grades. (IRT)

Urges teachers to avoid excessive correction of student papers. (DD)

Teachers (n=336) evaluated three samples of written work of differing quality. The sequence of samples was rotated. Good work was assessed more favorably when it followed lower quality work than when it preceded it. Two samples preceding work of contrasting quality produced greater bias than a single sample. (SK)

Examines public worries about grade inflation. States that these concerns are neither new nor well-founded. Asserts that these "myths" perpetuate a tendency to confuse quality with difficulty. (EV)

A study was undertaken to determine the gross words per minute achieved and errors made on timed writings completed by keyboarding students at the middle/junior high school, beginning high school, and advanced high school level with error correction as part of the input process. (JOW)

Evaluated three strategies for assigning examinees to grading categories in computerized adaptive testing. The expected a posteriori-based method had more correct classifications in the middle range of grade levels and more errors for the extremes than the golden section search grading test and the Z-score grading test. (SLD)

Selection of appropriate passages is important for memorizing and at the same time they must be presented reasonably well. The ways in which the different students recitations are graded is discussed.

Marking reliability is purported to be produced by having an effective community of practice. No experimental research has been identified which attempts to verify empirically the aspects of a community of practice that have been observed to produce marking reliability. This research outlines what that community of practice might entail and…

In this exploratory inquiry into the nature of the relationship between systematic instructional design models and teachers' planning practices and needs, the researchers conducted open-­ended interviews with six teachers of science and math in order to discover how they conceptualized and practiced instructional design. The most important finding…

This article presents selected aspects of a large study on the use of e-learning tools in support of assignment assessment, which was comprised of a substantial literature review, an investigation into electronic tools, and interviews with 90 academics at New Zealand tertiary institutions. The article makes two main contributions. Based on the…

This investigation documents an intervention that successfully counteracted a grade inflation trend at a small, Catholic, liberal arts university in the eastern United States. The intervention produced a significant drop in grades awarded by full-time faculty, but not by adjunct faculty who were not yet included in the intervention. Institutional…

Throughout classrooms in the United States there appears to have been a general watering down of academic standards. The percentages of "A" and "B" grades have risen, and at some schools, the percentage of grades of "C" or lower has plummeted. Numerous scholarly articles about grade inflation discuss the extent,…

There is a limited literature on academic failure in higher education despite the fact that failure is a common experience among undergraduates. Student and course characteristics were examined in relation to proportions of fail grades assigned in a Faculty of Arts. Concerns had been expressed that combinations of two grades, F (failure to reach a…

High enrollments, conflicting student work schedules, and the sheer convenience of once-a-week classes are pushing many colleges to schedule evening courses. Held from 6 to 9 pm or 7 to 10 pm, these classes are typically packed, sometimes with more than 150 students in a large lecture theater. How can faculty effectively teach, control, or even…