Essays and essay tests need to be a central feature of every class. Informing students about what is inadequate in their essays and counseling them on how to improve seem to be impossible, time-consuming tasks. The use of codes or abbreviations is described. (MLW)

Discusses the use of special portapunch cards in the testing and grading of large student populations. The cards can be processed routinely at a batch station by laboratory staff having little knowledge of computers. The system not only allows cheap and reliable marking but also can accommodate a variety of tests. (JN)

Impression marking of English Language essay and summary questions by pairs of examiners is shown, as expected, to be more reliable than single marking. Given the limited statistical information available, it is concluded that pairing of examiners can as well be done by random or quasi-random means as by attempts at calculated matching. (Editor/RK)

Describes using a literature analysis paper for grading physics students. Each student examines a physics paper from the literature, checks its accuracy and the accuracy of its references by use of the library, and applies it to answer some assigned questions. (MLH)

Reports many results of a grading study in which members of the American Society for Engineering Education scored student responses taken from college engineering test papers. The overall result was a wide variation in grades assigned. (MLH)

This book aims to provide a coherent and thoughtful framework for viewing the complex issues related to grading and reporting student learning. The primary goal of grading and reporting is recognized as communication, and grading and reporting are seen to be integral parts of the instructional process. Chapter 1 explores why grading and reporting…

This Digest summarizes trends in grading practices and introduces issues related to standards-based reporting. A large majority of schools use a traditional grading system, and many teachers have a great deal of autonomy in making decisions about grades. Given the latitude that teachers have in developing grading policies and differences in…

Developing meaningful and equitable grading practices is a daily challenge for K-12 educators and administrators. Grading practice serves several functions, including informing parents about their child's progress, informing potential employers, aiding in educational and career planning, and guiding administrative decisions such as graduation,…

Students' perceptions of assessment activities are the focus of this research. An instrument, Perceptions of Assessment of Teachers by Students, was developed in a primary version (kindergarten through grade 3) with a pictorial scale and a senior version (grades 4 through 12) with a 5-point Likert scale. Fifteen teachers returned the student…

Potential factors affecting grading practices were studied at an urban college. Altogether, there were 31,916 grades/grading events recorded in fall 1997. Overall, excluding grades considered "nonjudgmental," close to 50% of the grades were "B" and above and only 8% were failing. By mean quality points per credit, there were no…

This Digest describes different types of scoring rubrics and explains why they are useful. Scoring rubrics are descriptive scoring schemes that are developed by teachers or other evaluators to guide the analysis of the products or processes of students' efforts. Scoring rubrics are generally used when a judgment of quality is required, and they…

This Digest provides a process for developing scoring rubrics. The first step is to identify clearly the qualities that need to be displayed in a student's work to demonstrate proficient performance. These qualities will be the top level or levels of scoring criteria for the scoring rubric. Then the decision must be made whether the information…

What is the role of "zero" in grading? According to several authors, giving students a zero lets them too easily off the hook, seldom serves as a motivator for them to do better and is not an accurate reflection of what has been learned. While students do need to be responsible and accountable for their work, assigning a zero skews the grade and…

With the increased focus on standards-based education, more and more states, districts and school are becoming interested in standards-based grading and report cards. Hawaii, for example, is a state that is working hard on its "Standards Implementation Design" (SID), including standards-based report cards. As a component of Maine's Local…

Author's main thesis here is that there has been but meager research on the question of how we should go about achieving goals and that there is a need for much more research into the question of teaching methods on the community college level. (Author/RK)