As a result of the Canterbury earthquake on 4 September 2010, and associated aftershocks on 22 February 2011 and 13 June 2011, final examinations in the two first-year Economics papers at Canterbury University were cancelled at short notice in Semester 1, 2011. The final examination weightings were spread over the remaining assessments to obtain a…

Too many students are not learning enough. That alarm was sounded by the book "Academically Adrift" two years ago and has been the theme of numerous articles and conferences since. It also underlies the frustrations of employers who find recent graduates ill-prepared for the workplace. What if colleges, in their search to more clearly demonstrate…

Background: Educational researchers have long espoused the virtues of writing with regard to student cognitive skills. However, research on the reliability of the grades assigned to written papers reveals a high degree of contradiction, with some researchers concluding that the grades assigned are very reliable whereas others suggesting that they…

This article, using a student outcomes definition of academic standards, reports on academics' sense of standards as enacted through marking practices. Twelve lecturers from two UK universities were asked to "think aloud" as they graded written assignments followed by a semi-structured interview. The interview data were used to…

Grades often are determined by the unspoken values and beliefs of an autonomous teacher, but technology is making grading practices more transparent to parents, students, and educators. The ability to view the grade books of teachers who are teaching the same course in the same district is increasingly raising questions and challenges to what were…

Factors that cause poor examination passing rates and high dropout rates among primary school girls in Malawi were analysed. First hand data was collected by conducting a survey in all the three regions of Malawi. The respondents to the questionnaire were girls (402) who are repeating the last class in primary schools (Standard 8), primary school…

Much of the recent research on homework focuses on using online, web-based, or computerized homework systems. These systems have many reported capabilities and benefits, including the ability to randomize values, which enables multiple attempts by a student or to reduce academic dishonesty. This study reports on the impact of using randomized…

Accountability demands place tremendous pressures on high schools to meet specific standards. To satisfy demands, grading policies are becoming more liberal. Grade inflation is the result and a growing concern. This controversial subject contains a number of dangers. To combat the trend, teachers must realize the impact of grade inflation and take…

Good quality, timely feedback is a key factor to help students achieve their full potential. Increased class sizes have put significant strain on the ability to return work promptly without compromising feedback quality. In the current study, two screencasting technologies were used to produce audiovisual feedback. For essays, Jing was used,…

Educators seeking to reform grading must combat five long-held traditions that stand as formidable obstacles to change: (1) Grades should provide the basis for differentiating students; (2) grade distributions should resemble a bell-shaped curve; (3) grades should be based on students' standing among classmates; (4) poor grades prompt students to…

In her recent "Teaching English in the Two-Year College" ("TETYC") article, Denise Marchionda argues for a grading system in her first-year writing course that turns over responsibility to students for earning grades. The approach, which she calls "the point-by-point grading system," is a variation on a contract grading approach in which each…

Previous research has examined differences between students and faculty regarding the weight of effort in assigning grades. Here, students and faculty responded to questions regarding the relative weight of performance and effort on final grades and what letter grades faculty should assign across different types of courses. The authors asked these…

We study how the relationship between students' cognitive ability and their school grades depends on institutional contexts. In a simple abstract model, we show that unless competence standards are set at above-school level or the variation of competence across schools is low, students' competence valuation will be heterogeneous, with weaker…

This paper extends the literature on grader variation and the role of moderation and socialisation processes in reducing this variation. It offers a fresh categorisation of academics' assessment beliefs and expectations, and uses this categorisation to analyse the interaction between implicit and explicit expectations in relation to grader…

This paper aims to demonstrate the benefits of introducing the typical course grading process to a work-integrated learning course in exercise science in order to motivate students to produce their best efforts in assessment tasks relevant to their future employability. The course had incorporated a non-graded pass/fail system of assessment since…