Examines how teachers' pedagogical practices shape them as educators and alter their belief systems about students. A teacher describes her own pedagogy, noting how she made her practices consonant with her beliefs and discussing the changes in her attitudes when she changed her course from pass-fail to letter grading. (SM)

Based upon prior research in the College of Business and Public Administration and the first year of the university testing program at an upper division, midwestern university, implications for testing of older transfer students are drawn. Students should be tested before, or during, their first term of academic history. If remediation is not…

An examination of the grading policies at the 29 Michigan community colleges is presented. Six major classifications cover all grades given at the colleges: main grading system, pass-fail grades, withdrawal grades, incomplete grades, and audit options. The most common grade policy, used by 24 of the colleges, is the five grade system assigning…

Published articles about grading systems in general are listed in the first section of this annotated bibliography. A brief abstract of each article is provided. In the second section, Some Marking Systems in Current Use, credit grading policies used by nine community and junior colleges are described. (KM)

The traditional A-B-C-D-F grading system utilized by most colleges and universities to indicate student achievement has been a major focus of student and faculty dissatisfaction for decades. Further, when connected (consciously or unconsciously) to a norm-referenced approach to testing and a curve-based marking practice, the system can and does…

Results of a study of the relationship between students' propensities to withdraw from a course and the faculty member's grading in that course show that students do use the option to withdraw from courses when grades tend to be low in order to protect their grade point averages. (JMD)

Whether cutting score equivalents (CSEs) based on examinee performance are the same as CSEs based on expert judgment was examined using data from 3,262 examinees taking an internal medicine certification examination. CSEs produced by 40 physicians/experts were closer to the criteria than were standards derived from examinee performance. (SLD)

This article provides information on designing a college course grading plan. It reviews the history of grades; describes and discusses common approaches to grading; examines the purposes of grades, problems with current practices, and situational factors to consider in selecting an approach; and proposes eight principles to observe in developing…

Number-correct scoring was compared to empirical option weighting for estimating domain scores and making pass/fail decisions that are typical of certification, licensing, competency, and proficiency testing. The usefulness of the option-total correlation option-weighting method was illustrated with a sample of 1,000 high school students. (SLD)

Credentialing agencies that use multi-test examinations (MTEs) should be concerned with the quality of pass/fail outcomes as well as with the proportion of candidates passing. This study addressed three questions: (1) the effects on passing rate of MTE reliability, number of tests comprising a MTE, and correlations between pairs of component…

In this study of student attrition rates at Prince George's Community College, three indicators were analyzed: (1) term-to-term attrition, (2) within-term attrition, and (3) course "inefficiency" (failure). Data from 1972-73 through 1976-77 indicated that fall to spring attrition (term-to-term) was approximately 34%. Spring to fall averaged 47%,…

Of the many issues facing higher education, perhaps none has been more frequently and hotly debated by college administrators, instructors, and students, than the issue of college grading purposes and practices. Regretably, much of the research to date has been poorly done and hence has led to few changes. The purpose of this research was to…

This collection of 12 articles, prepared by the editors of the weekly newsletter "Education USA," attempts to highlight significant new developments that have surfaced as major education issues. The aim of the collection is to provide "an authoritative, up-to-date report on what's new in education in one book." The articles…

The most popular methods for setting passing scores and other standards on educational tests rely heavily on subjective judgment. This paper presents and evaluates a new procedure for setting and evaluating standards on tests based on cluster analysis of test data. The clustering procedure was applied to a statewide mathematics proficiency test…

A study conducted at Alma College to determine how and why grade inflation occurred is discussed. Grade inflation is seen as being caused by many factors including calendar changes, requirement reductions, better defined grading scales, and shifts in faculty attitudes. (MLW)