Principals are responsible for improving the grading and marking systems in their schools. School administrators should provide leadership for designing, revising, and validating grading systems that meet sound measurement principles, are applied uniformly, and match local needs. This article reviews definitions, operational principles, legal…

One approach to writing across the curriculum--microthemes--involves short writing assignments such as summary writing, thesis support, inductive reasoning, and quandary posing. Using microthemes in accounting can ease the burden for instructors trying to provide useful evaluative feedback to improve student writing. (SK)

Discusses ways to evaluate students' photographs, offering descriptions from a number of professors and professionals of their approaches. Includes an evaluation exercise, a photo assignment sheet, and three critique or grade sheets outlining criteria for photo evaluation. (SR)

Examines three elementary teachers' conceptions about mathematics assessment in the context of their practice. Teachers' beliefs are shaped by externally defined functions and purposes of assessment; what teachers perceive as the official school curriculum and their position with regard to subject matter; and how they understand learning and…

Describes a semester-long work team project designed to develop team behaviors and skills, such as collaboration, listening, problem solving, decision making, action planning, leadership, communication, and conflict resolution. Recommends that teaching collective processes must reward collective processes, that projects should be meaningful and…

Describes a new format for academic record keeping and grade reporting at Indiana University in the context of faculty divisions on the problem of grade inflation. Reports the new record format resulted in a more effective means to communicate to students the context of their academic performance in each course. The format has received a…

In a case from Oklahoma-"Falvo v. Owasso Independent School District," the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Family Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits the practice of directing students to grade one another's assignments. Students are not education professionals; only teachers should grade student work. (MLH)

Investigated differential validity and prediction of first-year university grades of two cohorts of students from historically white and historically black schools in South Africa, and the contribution of variations in grading standards between university courses to this differential validity and prediction. Adjustment for differences in grading…

Studied the actual classroom assessment and grading practices of secondary school teachers in relation to a specific class and determined whether meaningful relationships existed between teacher practices and grade level, subject matter, and ability levels of students. Analysis of surveys completed by 1,483 teachers shows that most secondary…

Discusses three steps to help legitimize grades as true measures of student success: eliminating superfluous inflationary pressures on grades; having expert teachers offer frank assessments of student progress (and stop teaching to the test) and give teachers authority over grades and the power to dismiss students who cannot or will not do the…

Discusses two studies that debunk the popular myths that student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are substantially biased by low workload and grading leniency. Results imply teaching effects were related to SETs. Contrary to predictions workload, expected grades, and their relations to SETs were stable over 12 years. (Author/MKA)

In an Oklahoma case, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that student grading of other students' work must be anonymous. By implication, the decision raises questions about other practices, such as displaying excellent student papers, awarding group grades, and publishing names of honor-roll students. (MLH)

Discusses traditional grading procedures used in education in general, and physical education in particular, suggesting an alternative procedure that may be more appropriate for grading students with disabilities in inclusive settings while still meeting the standards of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Suggestions include IEP…

Interviews with 10 Hong Kong teachers implementing the Teacher Assessment Scheme yielded metaphors describing their perceptions of roles in student assessment: examiner, policeman, and companion. Acting as teacher and assessor brought conflicting value systems into play. Underlying beliefs about assessment should be examined in order for the…

In this paper, we present our experiences in using two automatic assessment tools, TRAKLA and TRAKLA2, in a second course of programming. In this course, 500-700 students have been enrolled annually during the period 1993-2004. The tools are specifically designed for assessing algorithm simulation exercises in which students simulate the working…