This article describes a collaboration between two faculty members, one from mathematics and the other from education, to strengthen the preparation of pre-service elementary school teachers for teaching mathematics. The model used is a learning community which combines a mathematics content course offered by the mathematics department, with a…

Assigning grades to student work, both during the academic term and as a summation of a student's mastery of subject matter, is a longstanding practice in all levels of education, from kindergarten through graduate and professional studies. Recently, a variety of factors have brought the criteria for assigning, and the resulting distribution of…

In this article we investigate Canadian university and college students' interpersonal conflicts and exposure to abuse and violence during their postsecondary studies and assess the emotional, social, and academic impact of these experiences. Our findings, based on a sample 1174 university and college students in Southwestern Ontario, revealed…

As class sizes increase, methods of assessments shift from costly traditional approaches (e.g. expert-graded writing assignments) to more economic and logistically feasible methods (e.g. multiple-choice testing, computer-automated scoring, or peer assessment). While each method of assessment has its merits, it is peer assessment in particular,…

This collection contains three studies of the relationship between incentives, learning, and employability. The first study, "Incentives, Learning, and Employability," by John Bishop, models students' choices concerning what to learn and how much effort to spend learning it in terms of the outcome of a comparison of benefits and expected costs and…

In a study of the grading practices at Bridgewater State College, three research projects were conducted: (1) a questionnaire that compared faculty perception of grading in 1976 with their perceptions in a similar questionnaire in 1972; (2) a questionnaire for students adapted from the faculty questionnaire; and (3) a survey of the academic…

This volume is introduced by Sid Simon's discussion of the "Wad-Ja-Get?" syndrome--society's obsession with grades--and where it has led. Simon also explains each author's strong identification with the grading issue, and presents seven major questions that the authors, in the book, attempt to answer. His overview provides a perspective for…

This paper considers whether high schools in competitive environments use grade inflation to attract and retain families, perhaps in addition to more constructive responses. Two measures of grade inflation are used: the cutoffs used by each school to assign a letter grade to a percent score and high school grade point average after controlling for…

Automated essay grading or scoring systems are no more a myth, but they are a reality. As of today, the human written (not hand written) essays are corrected not only by examiners/teachers but also by machines. The TOEFL exam is one of the best examples of this application. The students' essays are evaluated both by human and web based automated…

Grading is one of the least liked, least understood and least considered aspects of teaching. After years of work, we have developed a grading system that is quite different from traditional and reformed approaches to grading and which meaningfully incorporates and integrates the collection of evidence, the evaluation of evidence, and the…

Students often exhibit overconfident grade expectations and tend to overestimate the actual course grade at the completion of a course. Current theories of student motivation suggest such overconfidence may lead students to study less than if they had accurate grade perceptions. The authors report the findings of a survey of students enrolled in…

Each school year, the School Climate Survey is administered to gather information on the perceptions that students, their parents, and school staffs hold concerning their schools and their performance. In 2008-2009, the survey was distributed to approximately 90,200 parents, 54,200 elementary, secondary, and adult students, and 25,000 staff. This…

Increased class sizes and advising responsibilities are the new realities in California's graduate programs of Educational Administration. In order to effectively meet new challenges, professors must make adjustments in venue, plan meticulously, utilize technology, distribute leadership, and implement alternative grading systems. This is a…

The assignment of grades to students is discussed, and a grading process is recommended. The process begins with the separation of minimal and developmental objectives. Minimal objectives represent course outcomes that all students are expected to achieve; developmental objectives are more complex goals toward which students strive, but which few…

Students responded well to the opportunity to create their own final examinations. (JH)