As educators, it is important for us to recognize that our assessment methods affect student attitudes. If we want students to learn from their mistakes and counteract a fixed-mindset of learning, perhaps we should look at what we incentivize in the classroom. Some professors are attempting to counteract math and test anxiety, poor STEM retention,…

As argumentation is an activity at the heart of mathematics, (not only) German school curricula request students to construct mathematical arguments, which get evaluated by teachers. However, it remains unclear which criteria teachers use to decide on a specific grade in a summative assessment setting. In this paper, we draw on two sources for…

Grade inflation is pervasive in American high schools. Is rampant grade inflation cause for concern? How teachers' grading standards affect student success is an empirical question--one that the author addresses in this article in a new study of roughly 350,000 North Carolina students taking Algebra I between 2006 and 2016. The author first…

This paper describes a study examining how mathematics anxiety, test anxiety, and communication apprehension are related to student behavior in courses using standards-based grading. An observational study of mathematics courses with 221 participants found that test anxiety increased over the semester although many students reported lower stress…

In April this year, shortly after the closure of schools and the announcement of the cancellation of this year's "A Levels and Scottish Highers," Sutton Trust surveyed young people applying to university through UCAS. This research brief provides an overview of the survey polling. Significant worries about the grading process were…

The COVID-19 pandemic creates unprecedented conditions for K-12 teaching and learning, and education leaders everywhere are working quickly to make the best policy decisions possible. Knowing that the current context is dramatically different than previous school years and that students' access to learning from home varies, how should schools…

This action research study describes how a web-based, feedback comment bank impacts online instructor efficacy as well as attitudes and perceptions associated with the online grading feedback process. Bandura's work on individual self-efficacy, Tschannen-Moran and Hoy's work on instructor efficacy, and Hattie's work on collective efficacy, along…

Study abroad attempts to prepare students to effectively work in a multi-national environment. This study compares students' experiences in a unit operations laboratory course offered in multiple modalities: at students' home university, and four- and eight-week study abroad. The results examine the impact of support on students' learning and…

Alternative assessment approaches, such as pass/fail and feedback-based designs, aim to reduce academic stress and foster deeper learning. Few studies have examined feedback-based evaluation in formative settings in medical education, but none among graduate anatomy students. This exploratory study investigated the impact of feedback-based versus…

This paper presents two studies examining the interrelation of grading and teacher judgment. Study 1 revealed the structure of teacher judgment two teachers and their classes, based on data from long-term ethnographic research. Through inductive analysis of teacher statements about students, four criteria by which teachers judge their students…

EXCEL spreadsheet algorithms were developed at Villanova University to efficiently and consistently retrieve information from ASPEN® flowsheets and used for grading work in senior design. The challenge is to take a large volume of data that is in the stream and unit operations reports and quickly and consistently calculate a list of key grading…

Peer-grading is commonly adopted by instructors as an effective assessment method for MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and SPOCs (Small Private online course). For solving the problems brought by varied skill levels and attitudes of online students, statistical models have been proposed to improve the fairness and accuracy of peer-grading.…

Substantial earnings differences exist across majors with the majors that pay well also having lower grades and higher workloads. We show that the harsher grading policies in STEM courses disproportionately affect women. To show this, we estimate a model of student demand courses and optimal effort choices of students conditional on the chosen…

Statement of Purpose and Method of Study: Grade inflation has been recognized as a major concern for a particular rural school in the South. Research has shown that the problem of grade inflation existed on the high school and college levels, but the problem had not received much attention at the elementary level. As a result, the implementation…

Course Evaluation Instruments (CEIs) are critical aspects of faculty assessment and evaluation across most higher education institutions, but heated debates surround the value and validity of such instruments. While some argue that CEI scores are valid measures of course and instructor quality, others argue that faculty members can game the…