In the fall of 1970, Hofstra University instituted a policy of exempting those students from English 1 and 2 who had demonstrated superior writing ability on achievement tests and in high school English courses. The question investigated was whether eliminating the "better" students from English 1 would have an effect on the grades…

This study investigated whether pass-fail elective options at the undergraduate level will encourage education majors to break away from previous patterns of elective choice and choose more courses in various scientific and mathematical disciplines. Two hundred sixty-three education students at Queens College of the City University of New York…

A psychiatrist discusses ways to help children who are failing in school, the reasons behind their failure and the self perpetuating nature of failure. Teacher attitudes, the grading system, and the educational process itself are listed as three areas requiring change if failing students are to be helped. (CK)

The effect of self-grading on biology students exposed to the same instruction (except grading) in an upper-middle class public school was investigated by comparing self-graded and teacher-graded populations in (1) achievement in high school biology, (2) level of aspiration behavior, (3) critical thinking skills, and (4) productivity. The…

New Zealand universities have been examining the possibilities of abolishing end-of-year examinations and placing more importance on coursework. This monograph offers the alternative of assessing students by formal assignments. The formal assignment system has 4 essential characteristics which distinguish it from other methods of assessment. (1) A…

This supplementary text to a lecture course "Methods of Grading" is a self-help text. Some relative grading methods covered are: Centile Rank; Rank Order; Mean, Median and Mode; Range; Deviation; Standard Deviation; Standard Score; and T-Score. Section I of the book written as a "scrambled text," and Section II is a workbook. (DB)

The author claims that schools are overcrowded with students who don't want to learn. He suggests a youth corps, where young people's boredom and frustration could give way to pride and purpose in service to the community. (Editor)

Grade inflation and its causes are studied. (DE)

Common grading practices are parodied. (JH)

Eight recent General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations, containing mainly free-response questions, were investigated in terms of their marking reliability. The tests of 200 randomly selected candidates from each subject were re-marked by a senior GCE examiner, and these marks were compared with the marks awarded previously as a result of…

If the explanations offered are correct, inflation should be leveling off and a small amount of deflation might be expected. The major initial impact of declining enrollments, changing student quality, and financial pressures has already been felt, and the pressure within academe to contain grade inflation is mounting. (Author/IRT)

The author presents a formula for scoring true-false and multiple-choice questions which produces a score directly related to the number of incorrect alternatives the student is able to eliminate on each question.

Four alternatives to the traditional testing and grading procedures are described. (JT)

This article discusses the factors required to be a part of each school's student progress policy. The author also examines numerous options and potential pitfalls of various decisions made in developing this policy. The two major components of satisfactory progress regulations--quality and quantity--are explored in detail. (CT)

Describes two techniques, behavior checklists and response tickets, for grading group activities designed to stimulate critical thinking. (SRT)