Describes activities carried out entirely off campus by 18 nonscience-major undergraduates in a beginning course which is designed to help them learn to observe, to ask questions, and to seek for answers. (CC)

Grading on the bulb is a technique based on two major considerations: that the grade given should represent the instructor's estimate of the student's probable success were he to choose a career in that field; and that the grades of D and F are eliminated. Many teachers grade this way; yet the technique has not heretofore had a name. Teachers who…

Article discusses recent study by the Academic Long Range Planning Committee of the College of St. Catherine, in which questionnaires were sent to admissions offices of 143 graduate schools in the U.S. in an attempt to measure their attitudes towards nongraded transcripts. Reaction was generally unfavorable. (JB)

Effects of reviewing items and altering responses on examinee ability estimates, test precision, test information, decision confidence, and pass/fail status were studied for 376 examinees taking 2 certification tests. Test precision is only slightly affected by review, and average information loss can be recovered by addition of one item. (SLD)

A study compared freshman medical student achievement and satisfaction under two grading schemes: a four-level grading plan (honors, high pass, pass, fail) with two examinations, and pass-fail with weekly quizzes. Under the latter system, students continued to perform well and reported greater satisfaction. (MSE)

This study is the National Board of Medical Examiners exploration of content-based techniques (standard-setting techniques in which pass/fail decisions are based upon the performance of examinees in relation to test content). Two content-based techniques (Angoff and Ebel) and three methods of evaluating examinee performance were studied. (MLW)

A part-form methodology was used to study the effect of varying degrees of multidimensionality on the consistency of pass/fail classification decisions obtained from simulated unidimensional item response theory (IRT) based licensure examinations. A control on the degree of form multidimensionality permitted an assessment throughout the range of…

The professional portion of the elementary and early childhood teacher education program at the University of Florida (UF) is taken on a pass-fail basis. A student completing this program has 66 quarter hours of pass-fail credit and a letter written by a faculty member who has worked with her or him for two years. The purpose of this study was to…

This report examines grading practices, the uses of grades and the influence of grades on the student, faculty, administration and society. The author also indicates how grading practices can be and are being altered to provide an educational tool that accurately reflects the many dimensions of student performance. It is noted that grades seem…

An Honors-Pass-Fail (H-P-F) grading system was introduced experimentally to replace A-B-C-F grading in all graduate education courses. H-P-F was more effective than A-B-C-F grading in distinguishing between exceptional and average student achievement. The percentage of highest possible grades declined from 50 percent A's to about 25 percent H…

This study investigates the pass/fail (P/F) grading system. A sample of 154 Indiana University students was interviewed. Half of the group, 77 students, had not taken any P/F courses. Of the remaining 77 students, 42% had taken only one P/F course and most of the rest from two to five courses. Results of the student interview questionnaire…

This research study surveyed the use of pass/no credit grading in student teaching. The measurement devices used were questionnaires developed to poll the opinions of the following groups: university personnel, coordinators of student teaching, noncenter hiring officials, student teachers, center cooperating teachers, and center administrators.…

This book addresses, in novel form, the question of whether or not the traditional system of grading in American schools is the most educationally useful system of evaluation. Within the dramatic framework of a controversy over grading at Mapleton High School, the authors examine various issues related to the traditional grading system, including…