While marking some Year 11 essays, Kate Hammond found her interest caught by significant differences between one kind of strong analysis and another. Some scored high marks but were less convincing. The achievement in these essays was superficially high, but somehow fragile. But in what way? And why? Putting GCSE mark-schemes to one side, Hammond…

This article provides a historical interpretation of one of the defining features of modern schooling: grades. As a central element of schools, grades--their origins, uses and evolution--provide a window into the tensions at the heart of building a national public school system in the United States. We argue that grades began as an intimate…

There has been much research and discussion on the principles of standards-based grading, and there is a growing consensus of best practice. Even so, the actual process of implementing standards-based grading at a school or district level can be a significant challenge. There are very practical questions that remain unclear, such as how the grades…

This paper describes an exploratory case study investigating the capacity of a multidisciplinary approach to academic development, to empower adaptive responses to ongoing technological change impacting on teaching practice. A quasi-experimental design with an intervention group (n=22) and a comparative control group (n=7) was adopted. Pre and…

Like many history teachers, Brent Ruswick struggles for ways to lessen his dependence on textbooks while also teaching students to read their textbook with the critical eye of a historian. It is a struggle he has come to appreciate more keenly as, in addition to teaching the standard college-level introductory history courses, he also teaches the…

Allowing students to grade their own homework promises several advantages to both students and instructors. But does such a policy make sense? This paper reports the results of an experiment in which eight separate assignments completed by approximately 80 students were first graded by the students using a grading rubric, and then re-graded by a…

Recently published evidence of limited learning among American college students confirms the damage done when students, faculty and institutions pursue interests that conflict with the educational process. The "disengagement compact" in which faculty tacitly trade lenient workloads and grading for higher student evaluation of teaching…

We describe an alternative to the kinds of observation-based lab exercises that are often used to cover animal and plant evolution with respect to transitioning from aquatic to terrestrial habitats. We wrote this activity to address these objectives, but also to model the process of scientific inquiry and to require students to collect and analyze…

This research questions the impact of assessment on university teaching and learning in circumstances where all student work is graded. Sixty-two students and lecturers were interviewed to explore their experiences of assessment at an institution that had adopted a modular course structure and largely unregulated numbers of internal assessments.…

A rubric for research theses was developed, based on the manual of the American Psychological Association, to be used as an assessment tool for teachers and students. The aim was to make students aware of what is expected, get familiar with criteria, and interpret teacher and peer feedback. In two studies, it was examined whether students use and…

Learning analytics offers insights into student behaviour and the potential to detect poor performers before they fail exams. If the activity is primarily online (for example computer programming), a wealth of low-level data can be made available that allows unprecedented accuracy in predicting which students will pass or fail. In this paper, we…

Variations of the question, "How are you doing in school?" are among those most frequently posed by adults to students (Reeves, 2004). Grades represent the primary source of that information; indeed, Olson (1995) called grades "one of the most sacred traditions in American education" (p. 24). There is so much trust in the…

Current and emerging technologies enable Open Distance Learning (ODL) institutions integrate e-Learning in innovative ways and add value to the existing teaching-learning and assessment processes. ODL e-Assessment systems have evolved from Computer Assisted/Aided Assessment (CAA) systems through intelligent assessment and feedback systems.…

The role that teachers have in assessing student coursework is crucial. Their "determination" that a particular piece of student's work is "acceptable" has many serious consequences. With a lack of debate surrounding assessment, practices may become mired in conventions and disconnected from issues such as knowledge, power and…

Decisions about progress through an academic programme are made by Boards of Examiners, on the basis of students' course assessments. For most students such pass/fail grading decisions are straightforward. However, for those students whose results are borderline (either at a pass/fail boundary or boundaries between grades) the exercise of some…