A selected review of the effects of various grading systems on student motivation at the university level has been summarized and interpreted. Particular emphasis is devoted to contract grading and the identification of student characteristics, both personal and intellectual, that appear to interact favorably with this relatively new grading…

THE FEASIBILITY AND PRACTICABILITY OF USING A DIGITAL COMPUTER (IBM 1620) TO GRADE PHYSICS LABORATORY REPORTS WAS INVESTIGATED. IN ORDER TO TEST THE VALUE OF USING THE COMPUTER, TWO TYPES OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS WERE WRITTEN FOR EACH OF FOUR EXPERIMENTS. ONE PROGRAM COMPLETELY GRADED THE REPORTS BY ENTERING THE STUDENT'S DATA AND HIS CALCULATED…

One course in persuasion reviews six theories of attitude change--five based on Otto Lerbinger's designs for persuasive communication (cognitive design, stimulus response design, motivational design, personality design, and social design), and a sixth (perceptual design) developed by the instructors. Instruction in each includes a variety of…

Seven major kinds of "bad" or "dishonest" marking systems much used by English teachers ar" briefly described. English teachers are urged to be more aware of recent publications which evaluate various marking systems. (BN)

Twenty-four tenth-grade students were randomly assigned to three groups as part of a study of the effects of teacher comments on student essays. Throughout the course, one group received comments to indicate faults, one group received comments correcting errors, and one group received comments designed to foster thinking. At the beginning and end…

This paper argues that it can be helpful to accept and comment upon preliminary drafts of student papers, as well as the "final" version that will be graded. Comments on preliminary drafts should focus on what seem to be the most fundamental matters, leaving others (including grading) for later drafts. Appropriate types of concerns and comments at…

The phased typing program uses individualized instruction to enable each student to achieve a level of typing skill commensurate with his own motivation, ability, available time, and performance objective. For the typical student the four phases correspond in time to four semesters of typewriting instruction. Students who intend to use the…

In the early 1960's, Westminster College adopted a new grading system, with the traditional grade levels of A, B, C, D, and F converted to DN (Distinction), HP (High Pass), P (Pass), and NC (No Credit). NC replaced both D and F of the old system, and grade point averages were abolished, in an effort to encourage students to register in more…

Although more college students are enrolled in freshman composition classes than in any other, there is little clarity of purpose in these writing courses. In such a field, where outcomes must be expressed in terms of student writing skills acquired (or not acquired), few well-defined experiments have been reported. This investigator, in an…

To determine the effects of grades on academic performance, 31 graduate students participated in a course which, to avoid the undesirable effects of competition and ambiguity, was designed with specified course objectives and criteria for grades. The students were assigned 4 prescribed experiments that they performed in pairs. They each wrote…

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE MARKING PRACTICES OF 39 SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS FROM TWO SCHOOLS IN METROPOLITAN NASHVILLE-DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, WERE STUDIED. SPECIAL MARKING EXERCISES CONTAINING STANDARD DATA ON HYPOTHETICAL STUDENTS WERE USED TO STUDY THE MARKING PRACTICES OF TEACHERS UNDER MORE UNIFORM CONDITIONS THAN EXIST IN THE CLASSROOM. A…

This report discusses two teachers' conferences jointly financed by the Michigan Speech Association and the Michigan Education Association. The teachers discussed how speech and dramatic performances translate into terminal behaviors, how group tasks can be adapted to individual accountability, how to communicate achievement to students, and how…

Discussed are four reasons for testing in accounting, the grading of achievement and attitudes, the use of three kinds of tests (short-answer, problem, and essay), and a mechanism for grading (accumulation of points). (MS)

A system of grading tests by considering the relative merits of responses to individual items is developed. (SD)