A brief overview of the societal context for current grading practices forms the background for a discussion of alternatives to the assignment of letter or numerical grades to represent student performance. According to the author, in order to meet the criteria for effective feedback, schools and colleges must undergo several fundamental attitude…

Perspectives on the evaluation of college teaching are considered. Some of the conditions that are needed generally include the following: the existence of an evaluation system that has a process for evaluating research and service, a clear definition of the difference between the evaluation of worth and the evaluation of merit, and a separate…

As a follow-up to the Central Wisconsin Writing Project, a writing survey was prepared to (1) introduce the concept of writing across the curriculum to high school faculty in the district, (2) determine the district's need for inservice in writing across the curriculum, (3) establish the validity of the data, (4) collect information about writing…

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the drop or withdrawal policies of the 29 tax-supported community colleges in Michigan, and to determine whether Macomb County Community College (MCCC) will have proportionately more hours dropped than most. As MCCC does not require formal withdrawal applications, permits withdrawal at any time,…

Teachers in all disciplines must demand good writing from students if they want their writing to improve. When good writing is demanded only in English classes, students develop a double standard for their writing. To make teachers in other departments aware of their responsibility for the quality of student writing, English teachers can take the…

The study sought to ascertain faculty perceptions of their own grading practices, opinions of what grading standards ought to be, and knowledge of how other disciplines grade. Opinions were gathered by a survey of teaching faculty at Georgia State University. Analysis revealed that faculty opinions about grading are strongly associated with…

THE SCOPE OF THE NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM CENTER'S RESEARCH PROGRAM IN TEACHING COMPOSITION TO THE BEGINNING WRITER IS DEFINED IN THE EIGHT PAPERS COMPRISING THIS COLLECTION. THE TOPICS FOR THE PAPERS ARE--(1) LIMITING THE AIMS OF TEACHING COMPOSITION IN THE SEVENTH- AND EIGHTH-GRADES TO INCLUDE ONLY NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE WRITING AND…

This document contains 20 papers which were delivered at a conference on college-level sociology teaching. The aim of the conference was to provide a forum where sociologists could exchange ideas on how to improve sociology instruction. Thirty-four sociologists from state universities and private and city colleges participated in the conference.…

WRITTEN FOR ADMINISTRATORS AND PLANNERS, THIS ANTHOLOGY IS CONCERNED WITH INFORMATION PRINCIPLES, EFFECTS, DESIGN, AND INTEGRATION OF SYSTEMS. CONCENTRATING ON THE CONSTRAINTS ON AUTOMATION AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION, THE DOCUMENT CONSIDERS NEW USES FOR COMPUTERS IN REPORTING STATISTICS, SCHOOL CENSUS, ATTENDANCE COUNTING, GRADING, SCHEDULING,…

A four semester examination of the 15 most heavily enrolled baccalaureate courses at Oakton Community College (Illinois) for fall, 1975 through spring, 1977, revealed consistently heavy enrollments in the social sciences and general education core courses in communications. Science and math enrollments accounted for less than 15% of the total each…

The purpose of this study was to express in procedural terms one approach in the development of a technique to discover the rating strategies of essay graders. Sets of rater scores obtained from a reading of 256 high school essays by 32 experienced English teachers were submitted to a factor analysis which yielded four meaningful rater clusters.…

Every human being is always open to some degree; for example, open for learning, experience, change, improvement, or further degradation by his own standards or those of others. Every experience alters an individual's learning capacity. Therefore, to say a child is naturally of high or low intelligence with unlimited or limited learning power is…

This comparison of correction of written papers by peers with traditional correction by teachers in composition courses tested the hypothesis that a statistically significant difference would exist in favor of a peer-graded group. The theoretical basis of study was the influence on adolescents of the opinions of their peers and the motivating…

After briefly reviewing the correspondence study method and procedures in general, an extensive and detailed survey is made of the correspondence study programs of 59 National University Extension Association member institutions which offer such programs, with a listing of all courses offered, application procedures; credit procedures, costs, and…

This curriculum guide describes a high school English program structured to meet the needs of the homeless boys of Boys Town, Nebraska. The program is individualized, designed to provide as much tutorial help as possible. The general goals of the program are to improve communication skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The guide…