Argues that grading and evaluation need not be as pervasive as they seem. Explores ways teachers can step outside grading: nongraded writing assignments, portfolios, and grading contracts. Explores how it is possible to go further and step outside the mentality of evaluation by using certain descriptive and analytic responses to student writing.…

Addresses two issues in the ethics of grading and testing. The first is the charge that the practice of grading students is intrinsically coercive. The second is the national debate about authentic assessment, educational standards, and standardized measures of educational outcomes. The paper suggests there is an acceptable middle ground. (SM)

Educators can develop fair and accurate standards-based grading/reporting by switching to criterion-referenced grading practices; using differentiated criteria (denoting product, process, and progress); clarifying the purpose of each reporting tool; and developing a reporting form that identifies standards, facilitates interpretation, and…

The report card grade has come to serve a variety of purposes: (1) Substantiation for state funding; (2) A public relations opportunity to help generate positive feelings between a school and the community; (3) A vehicle used by the teacher to increase a student's self-esteem; (4) An opportunity to reward a student's likability; and (5) A chance…

This paper reports a study designed to enhance students' ability to implement assessment marking criteria and to develop the role of dialogue in student learning. Pairs or trios of undergraduate biology students were asked to complete a poster on the theme of histology using student/tutor-constructed marking criteria. The study showed: (1)…

The Student Library Aide Program provides real-world work experience to students in a safe learning environment. Students who are interested in working in the library complete an application form similar to a real job application listing their classroom teachers as references, telling why they want to work in the library, and any experience they…

This paper describes a new ICT assessment tool that reduces multihandling of marks, comments and scores specifically where professional judgement is involved. Whereas previous ICT applications in most fields of education have focused on student learning, this tool focuses on the lecturer task of the assessment process. Unlike many ICT based…

Classroom assessments fall into three categories--summative, diagnostic, and formative. Summative assessment occurs at the end of a unit or course of study and is therefore an insufficient tool to maximize student learning. Diagnostic and formative assessments, on the other hand, offer descriptive feedback along the way. In light of these…

Written analyses of cases help the student develop the skills of logical analysis and written communication. However, students often question the reliability of the grades that they receive. In this study, the author used six criteria to evaluate case analysis by two graders who were team teaching a course. Results show that even with…

When Benedict College president Dr. David Swinton noticed the nagging underperformance of his students, he instituted a new grading policy, which has become controversial. But Swinton says the policy could save remedial students, putting them back on track. When Swinton noticed the nagging underperformance of students, and especially the high…

This article is based on a comparative study of French and English infant schools. The first section examines the understanding of "mistakes" from a socio-cultural perspective, relating assessment to teachers' culturally situated practice and values. While mistakes and failure for some are an inevitable outcome of French pedagogic choices, they…

Although most portfolio evaluation currently uses some adaptation of holistic scoring, the problems with scoring portfolios holistically are many, much more than for essays, and the problems are not readily resolvable. Indeed, many aspects of holistic scoring work against the principles behind portfolio assessment. We have from the start needed a…

The authors performed a statistical analysis to investigate whether grade inflation existed in the business school at a small private college in the northeast region of the United States. The results showed that grade inflation existed and exhibited a linear trend over a 20-year period. The authors found that grade inflation was related to faculty…

In 1998, the University if Northern Colorado's General Education Council began to discuss ways of improving assessment of the general education program. Their search ended in a formal implementation of course-embedded assessment in all general education courses beginning in fall 2001. Course-embedded assessment is a classroom-based process that…

Grading papers may be one of the most stressful, most time consuming, and least rewarding activities in which professors engage. Although effective grading techniques for papers have been widely researched, especially within the "Writing" or "English" scholarly arenas, has this information been put into practice? The goals of this paper are…