[Slides] presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference in New York in March 2008. This presentation explores what cues are used as a deciding factor in essay scoring by the essay grader.

Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) is a measure that is used to display the achievement of college students in Ethiopia. It also serves as a key yardstick in career and scholarship assessment. In recent time there has been a rapid massification of higher educational institutions (HEIs). Many academics believe that the expansion has increased a…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between students' reactions to teaching and their consequent performance as measured by course grades. Reactions to teaching were reported by 189 adult part-time students enrolled in postgraduate studies over two consecutive academic semesters across six different study programs in a large…

Prior research across hundreds for introductory physics courses has demonstrated that traditional physics instruction does not generally lead to students learning physics concepts in a meaningful way, but that interactive-engagement physics courses do sometimes promote a great deal more student learning. In this work I analyze a reform effort in a…

Achieving learning standards is at the forefront of current educational philosophy, and is the goal of sound educational practice. That "all children can learn" and there will be "no child left behind" presume that teaching and assessment practices must benefit all children. Agreement in principle is nearly universal. Practical implementation,…

Letter grades or an equivalent rating system serve a natural, logical, and perfectly defensible function in evaluation and reporting. (RC)

The various no-grade evaluational options recently introduced on the academic scene are grading in disguise. (Author)

There is increasing protest regarding the validity and usefulness of current methods of evaluating students' abilities and achievements. With higher education accessible to the masses, increased competition for college, graduate school, and good jobs has made the attainment of "good grades" more important than ever. Yet the appearance of…

Traditional grading was replaced with the Honors-Pass-Fail (H-P-F) grading system in graduate education courses at Herbert H. Lehman College in the fall 1971 semester. The purpose of that action was to determine if the H-P-F system might differentiate more effectively between exceptional and average student achievement. The general findings of the…

This study was designed to ascertain a) the distribution of student teaching letter grades in 29 Iowa teacher education institutions from 1967-70; b) the predictive value of student teaching letter grades held by superintendents; and c) the preference of Iowa superintendents concerning the present letter grade and recommendation system versus the…

There has been sufficient experience with non-punitive grading to identify at least two principles that underlie its uniqueness and educational merit. These principles are (1) accumulated competence and (2) sufficient consequence. By contrasting non-punitive grading with the traditional grading system, these principles become distinctly apparent.…

Discusses a recent survey on grading practices in legal education, with particular emphasis on clinical instruction. The author believes that pass/fail grading is not adequate for clinical experiences and suggests ways in whichh to implement more precise evaluating methods. (PG)

The article describes a recent survey by a committee of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), which attempted to determine the current attitudes of various private schools toward pass/fail grading. While there have been no concrete results as yet, the committee will continue to gather information. (Author/JB)

A large number of medical schools have discontinued the use of letter and number grades and have adopted pass-fail or honors-pass-fail grading systems. The relationship of academic performance with the selection of first-year residents for a university-based program in internal medicine is examined. (MLW)