U.K. higher education research routinely pinpoints the racialized nature of academic performance, but it often fails to even consider if racism contributes to such a pervasive racial or ethnic disparity. While research in the area often focuses on comparing the attainment of home white and ethnic minority students, little attention is given to the…

Speaking in public involves three parts: an act, a process, and art; however, stage fright is a common dilemma for students across all proficiency levels and cultural orientations. In this paper, some critical factors of successful public speaking affecting both students' self-scoring and the professor's grading of in-class presentations were…

Containing all of the practical tools needed to put theory into practice, "STEM for All" by Leena Bakshi McLean provides a roadmap for teachers, instructional coaches, and leaders to better understand the challenges that create low engagement and scores in STEM subjects and implement exciting and culturally relevant teaching plans. This…

Morehouse School of Medicine elected to restructure its first-year medical curriculum by transitioning from a discipline-based to an integrated program. The anatomy course, with regional dissection at its core, served as the backbone for this integration by weaving the content from prior traditional courses into the curriculum around the anatomy…

Grades serve many important purposes, and educators agree it is important to assign them accurately and fairly. Interviews with 100 professors across a broad range of academic disciplines at a mid-sized state college revealed little consensus on whether, when, or how to adjust scores when assigning grades. Their responses informed a review of…

Since 2008, automatic, multiple assessment options have been utilised in selected undergraduate meteorology courses at the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee. Motivated by a desire to reduce stress among students, the assessment methodology includes examination-heavy and homework-heavy alternatives, differing by an adjustable 15% of the overall…

In this note, I argue for and discuss my experiences with explicitly incorporating principles of critical and creative thinking in a transitions course which serves mathematics, mathematics education, and statistics majors. I describe several specific assignments and classroom tasks designed to enhance critical and creative thinking. I also…

Standards-based grading has been researched for years, but the research has not focused on the impact it had on intermediate elementary aged students and their mathematical achievement. This quantitative research study examined the impact standards-based grading had on intermediate elementary age students in math, as well as the impact it had on…

Like many math educators, I have spent much of my career bound to traditional methods of instruction and assessment. In recent years, motivated by a growing understanding that such approaches may not result in equitable or inclusive classroom environments, my teaching philosophy has shifted radically. In this article, I describe how I transformed…

Just-in-Time Teaching, collaborative learning, and specifications grading were used for Organic Chemistry 2 during the switch to remote instruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during Spring 2020. Relatively minor adjustments to the face-to-face instructional plan enabled remote instruction and assessment of all planned learning objectives to…

A flexible approach to assessment may promote students' engagement and academic achievement by allowing them to personalise their learning experience, even in the context of large undergraduate classes. However, studies reporting flexible assessment strategies and their impact are limited. In this paper, I present a feasible and effective approach…

The United States currently has a system which was instituted almost two hundred years ago as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Education incorporated the efficiency of a manufacturing model into a way to educate the general populace. While the intentions were well-meaning, they were not based on an understanding of child development or even…

Group projects are widely used in higher education, but they can be problematic if all group members are given the same grade for a project to which they might not have contributed equally. Most scholars recommend addressing these problems by awarding individual grades, computing some kind of individual weighting factor (IWF) from peer and…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of standards-based grading (SBG) on student achievement at Lipscomb Academy, a private, faith-based school in Middle Tennessee. In this mixed-methods study the researchers utilized test score data from middle school math and language arts midterms, AP Psychology Exam scores, digital…

Traditional-aged college students examined the variables associated with teaching excellence using conjoint analysis. Educational Testing Service's Student Instructional Report (SIR), which has been shown to be related to student evaluations, was used to assess teaching excellence. The constructs from SIR were used as attributes in a survey…