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)

Student input into grading in the basic speech communication course can be accomplished through a peer evaluation system. Three student evaluators are assigned for every student speech. Speeches are given a quality score by the peer evaluators and by the instructor. Rating errors are minimized by assigning peer evaluators so that no…

This study attempted to determine the effects of two grading foci, emphasis on content vs. emphasis on grammar, on the reliability and level of grades awarded to English composition themes and the effects of annotation vs. no annotation on the reliability and level of grades awarded. (Author/RK)

A selected review of the effects of various grading systems on student motivation at the university level has been summarized and interpreted. Particular emphasis is devoted to contract grading and the identification of student characteristics, both personal and intellectual, that appear to interact favorably with this relatively new grading…

THE FEASIBILITY AND PRACTICABILITY OF USING A DIGITAL COMPUTER (IBM 1620) TO GRADE PHYSICS LABORATORY REPORTS WAS INVESTIGATED. IN ORDER TO TEST THE VALUE OF USING THE COMPUTER, TWO TYPES OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS WERE WRITTEN FOR EACH OF FOUR EXPERIMENTS. ONE PROGRAM COMPLETELY GRADED THE REPORTS BY ENTERING THE STUDENT'S DATA AND HIS CALCULATED…

One course in persuasion reviews six theories of attitude change--five based on Otto Lerbinger's designs for persuasive communication (cognitive design, stimulus response design, motivational design, personality design, and social design), and a sixth (perceptual design) developed by the instructors. Instruction in each includes a variety of…

Seven major kinds of "bad" or "dishonest" marking systems much used by English teachers ar" briefly described. English teachers are urged to be more aware of recent publications which evaluate various marking systems. (BN)