Practical ways to document essential elements taught and mastered are presented for the teacher and administrator. With the amendment of the administrative rules to remove the 70% passing requirement, educators received greater flexibility in determining appropriate ways to document mastery. What now determines whether or not students move on to…

The evolution and administration of testing to measure student progress through a required undergraduate bibliographic instruction course (Library 160) at Iowa State University are described. Bibliographic instruction began at the university in 1890. Through 1958 all colleges within the university received a noncredit required course in library…

Standard setting practices in states using the NTE (formerly the National Teacher Examinations) were examined for 1987. The NTE is composed of two segments: (1) a Core Battery covering the communication skills and general knowledge skills; and (2) a test of professional knowledge about teaching. The processes used to establish passing scores for…

Although most instructors are solely responsible for the evaluation and grading of students, they rarely receive formalized training in test construction or other forms of evaluation. Evaluating highly motivated students in very small classes is a rather uncomplicated procedure; however, evaluating large classes in which students have a range of…

Information on schooling in 50 countries is provided in the third volume of a handbook on the placement of foreign graduate students. For each country, guidelines concerning placement in U.S. graduate programs are provided. In addition, country profiles cover: years of study included at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels; diplomas,…

The educational systems of 15 Sub-Saharan African countries are described, and guidelines concerning the academic placement of students who wish to study in U.S. institutions are provided. Tables indicate the grades covered by primary education and secondary education (academic and technical). Burundi, Rwanda, and Zaire have followed the Belgian…

Evaluation indicated the majority of undergraduates favored the grading option and opposed grading in general. Those with vocational orientation preferred traditional letter grading, whereas those who were "identity-seekers" preferred the grading option. (Author)

Content analysis was used to determine the evaluation criteria of high school and college teachers and college seniors in grading essay tests. Content analysis is defined as a way of asking a fixed set of questions unfalteringly of all of a predetermined body of writings, in such a way as to produce quantitative results. Four reponses to a…

To study grading standards and consistency within the English department, 1600 freshmen at Rockland Community College were asked to complete a uniform exit essay at the end of English 101. After developing criteria for grading the papers, members of the department marked their own papers and one other set. Eight months later, 240 of the papers…

A study was conducted over four semesters, spring 1976 through fall 1977, at the State University Colleges at Oswego and Cortland, two arts and sciences colleges of the State University of New York. It investigated the relationship of selected demographic variables of college teachers, selected environmental factors, and grades given by faculty…

Noting that the students participating on a typical yearbook staff must develop their expertise in such areas as writing, art and design, leadership, business, and group dynamics in a highly realistic job-oriented situation, this paper suggests that yearbook production should be an accredited course in the high school curriculum, with an…

The presence of F in the ABCDF grading scale results from the struggle between authoritarian and egalitarian philosophies over how best to support the school work ethic. Authoritarian forces have favored the precise 0-100 scale that centralizes power clearly in the hands of the teacher. Egalitarian forces have supported less precise measures, such…

A study was undertaken to validate earlier research on the affective meanings of college grades to students, and to extend the generalizability of the findings by studying a more representative group. One hundred six students in two sections of an introductory psychology course comprised the sample. The average student was a second-semester…

The objectives, programs, and procedures of the English department at Maine Township High School South in Park Ridge, Illinois, are set forth in this handbook. The 14 sections cover the following areas: the department philosophy; the community and the student body; the purposes and objectives of the district's educational program; departmental…

A psychology for responding to student writing that follows Adlerian principles can provide teachers with a basis for reacting to student papers. The teacher commentary derived from individual psychology should be supplemented by editorial comments directed to individual problems, and it works best with freshman composition courses full of novice…