The authors' purpose is to describe a grading system that reasonably assesses student performance relative to course goals while at the same time provides interim feedback that is accurate, facilitates learning and motivates students. This method has been effectively used in several iterations of a finance course. The authors explain how to design…

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has stated that many teacher education programs demonstrate a lack of rigor because a large percentage of their course grades come from assignments that are criterion-deficient, lacking specific criteria through which instructors can determine students' mastery of the material. This article applied…

Peer reviews offer a unique assessment of post-secondary students' writing, wherein students grade fellow students' (or peers') essay submissions according to a provided rubric. Previous research found that students' personality dimensions were related to the grades that students both gave and received through peer assessment. The present study…

As students move from grade level to grade level and onto college, their grades have an impact on the number of opportunities available to students. The competition for entering college and earning a scholarship are at an all-time high and the grades students earn have a direct impact on future opportunities. Grading practices vary by teacher…

Essay exams offer many benefits for instructors who seek to vary their assessment methods and engage students in critical discourse, yet they also pose many challenges and require thoughtful construction and evaluation. The author provides an extensive overview of the literature to illuminate best practices for designing and assessing effective…

Teachers and administrators expressed concerns regarding grading English Learner (EL) students in a school district in a mid Atlantic state. Grade retention rates of ELs were disproportionately high. A professional development pilot was designed and implemented based upon the district's recently developed EL Grading Guidelines. The purpose of this…

The current generation of American students find themselves ill-prepared for the post-secondary level of mathematics study due to graduating high school without the requisite skills to be successful. While there are many factors that contribute to this defecit, it remains the job of educators and educational researchers to make strides toward…

This essay explores the use of contract grading as a means to combat the commodification of education. Starting with an examination of traditional grading practices, the author moves on to explore contract grading as an alternative to the free-market, capitalistic approach to higher education in the United States and its apparent ultimate goal of…

This study applies the Shapley value within the context of class-group based peer assessments by treating it as a cooperative game and giving fairness to each group member to cushion the effect of coalitions. Based on scenario analysis, the Shapley Value method is used to identify the fair marks which should be given/allocated to individuals with…

The increasing interest in electronic management of assessment is a sign of a gradual institutionalisation of e-submission and e-marking technologies in UK Higher Education. The effective adoption of these technologies requires a managed approach, especially a detailed understanding of current assessment practices within the institution and the…

The value of simulations in the classroom is well established, and there are numerous publications that feature specific role-play exercises that can readily be introduced into the classroom. Frequently, however, instructors would like to design their own simulations to fit their specific learning objectives for a class, but don't know where to…

Thorndike's (1969) "three P" model of faculty grading orientations (FGOs) serves as a theoretical basis for examining faculty's grading behavior in this study. Using data from a 2014 faculty survey I analyzed the responses of 1,742 faculty at 18 four-year, primarily teaching institutions in the U.S. to examine the relationship between…

Nearly all first-year composition learning objectives state that writing instructors will help each student to improve their knowledge of written conventions, like punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Historically, it has been difficult to achieve significant learning gains in writing mechanics. This teaching failure disproportionately damages the…

Accrediting agencies for English language programs, such as the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA), require a plan in writing for monitoring and reviewing assessment practices. Nonetheless, web-search queries such as "assessing assessment," "how to assess assessment," "assessing assessment…

Pervasive narratives about who and what counts as competent in science disproportionately impact students historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and are perpetuated in the design of STEM courses. Equity-focused education literature argues for the need to develop robust learning ecologies that support…