When the purpose and meaning of grades is not well-defined by an organization, there is a disconnect between curricular/assessment practices and student engagement. This study sought to investigate origins and find solutions in regards to discerning a student's knowledge and mastery of a subject and how this is reflected in the grade, and how…

Quantitative literacy (QLT) represents an underlying higher-order construct that accounts for a person's willingness to engage in quantitative situations in everyday life. The purpose of this study is to retest the construct validity of a model of quantitative literacy (Wilkins, 2010). In this model, QLT represents a second-order factor that…

Roughly one third of all U.S. high school graduates do not enroll in college soon after earning a diploma. There are many reasons why students do not do so, including work obligations, affordability concerns and lack of academic preparation. Yet research suggests that many of these students often aspire to a college education. Helping these…

Digital badges are the components demonstrating competency and knowledge of the learners. The use of digital badges used to reflect the skills of learners is becoming increasingly widespread in the teaching environments. In addition, these badges are starting to take their places among documents such as certificates and diplomas. In this study,…

The University School of Milwaukee eliminated class rank and substituted a bar graph system, illustrated and explained in the article. (SP)

Three accounting teachers gave two tests and a comprehensive final to 417 undergraduates using one of three treatments: no comments written on test paper, comments at teacher's discretion, or standard comments. The type of comment did not affect subsequent test performance, but did significantly affect performance on final exam, especially for…

Results of a national survey on collegiate use of class rank have been analyzed in terms of the chief characteristics that are associated with differences in a college's practice: 1) public or private support, 2) two- or four-year institutions, 3) size of enrollment, 4) section of country; tables and commentary explain the findings. (Editor)

Various reasons are given for the unrealiability of class rank as an indicator of academic success; author is head of a small private college-preparatory school. (SP)

Answers to the major issues that confront secondary schools and colleges in making decisions about the use or non-use of grade point average and rank-in-class as features of the college application/admissions process. (Author)

Describes a system by which teachers can show parents their child's academic performance in relation to other students in the class. Students are rank-ordered by date of birth and tests scores, allowing comparisons with other class members based on age and performance. (MDM)

Teacher rankings were collected from 16 elementary teachers for 28 students with communication disorders and 28 nondisabled students who had the same achievement/ability indices. Results indicated that teachers trained in a collaborative model of service delivery were more accurate in their perceptions of ability levels for students with…

Presents a new edition (moderately revised in response to survey results) of the guidelines prepared by the National Association of Secondary School Principals' School-College Relations Committee to help secondary schools cope with issues generated by college use of class rankings and grade point averages when evaluating candidates for admission.…

Higher education, it is suggested, has lost much public confidence because of the problem of overinflated grading standards. Relative performance standings of all students in a course could correct the inconsistencies. "Extra academic record" evaluations are seen as expensive, draining faculty time and university resources. (Author/MLW)