The purpose of this article is to deal with the following issues as they relate to educational grading policy: (1) to examine the use and misuse of grades in education; (2) to explore the use of performance based grading versus traditional grading and compare institutions using traditional grading versus those using performance based or…

The author reviews various current approaches to evaluating pupil achievement, evaluating instruction, and using grades, grade point averages, and class rank. Such issues as the philosophical and psychological bases for selection and use of evaluation instruments, the use of performance objectives, ways to reduce subjectivity in grading, the use…

This paper describes the rationale for, and the design, implementation and preliminary evaluation of a taxonomy to guide the grading and feedback of ePortfolio assessment of personal development planning (PDP) in a module where PDP is integrated into the curriculum. Conventional higher education assessment methods do not adequately address the…

The relatively poor academic achievement of black and Hispanic students has been a national concern since the passage of the "Elementary Secondary and Education Act" in 1963. Frustrated with relatively slow progress in closing these educational gaps, the most recent reauthorization of the ESEA, the "No Children Left Behind Act of…

[Slides] presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2009. This study investigated the presence of a general rise in high school grades without a corresponding rise in SAT scores, as well as different grading criteria between schools, as shown by differential relationships between AP course grades and exam scores. These…

The present article examined the validity of public web-based teaching evaluations by comparing the ratings on RateMyProfessors.com for 126 professors at Lander University to the institutionally administered student evaluations of teaching and actual average assigned GPAs for these same professors. Easiness website ratings were significantly…

Even through simplistic nursery rhymes, communication provides a powerful medium through which people formulate and create impressions, images, and ideologies. Communication, verbal and nonverbal, clearly plays a significant role in individual gender construction. Through words and action, people create meaning for others and themselves. One's…

Discover how teachers can motivate students and help them retain more knowledge longer by using sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and movement in the classroom. In this first-ever guide to multisensory learning, author Lawrence Baines explains how teachers in every grade and subject can change curriculum from a series of assignments to a series…

The UK educational assessment landscape is changing, characterised by attempts to create more flexible pathways through learning. This has led to attempts to formalise the comparative relationships between different general and vocational qualifications. The National Qualifications Framework (NQF), the Framework for Achievement and the Framework…

Time and opportunity to discover truths are essential in education. Discovery takes repetition and trial and error. Discovery crosses intellectual and disciplinary boundaries as well. What is learned through the diverse experiences of one's academic and individual lives will pollinate each other if there is room left for discovery. The tyranny of…

Published papers on the area of online assessment have mainly focused on instructors' assessment of online discussion forums or computer-assisted testing in a highly structured environment with a narrow focus on multiple choice or true-false types of questions. With the exponential growth of online courses and many educational institutions looking…

The purpose of this researcher-school collaborative study was to examine factors which might be intervenable by urban high school counselors in assisting at-risk students. There were two primary objectives. The first was to examine the degree to which urban adolescents' academic competence predicts cumulative grade point average (GPA). The second…

Teachers distribute their time in many ways. The study sought to determine how agriculture teachers distribute their time among 11 selected teacher activities (i.e., preparation for instruction; classroom/laboratory teaching; laboratory preparation and/or maintenance; grading/scoring students' work; administrative duties-program management;…

A detailed model syllabus is presented for a general introduction to literacy studies from linguistic and sociocultural perspectives. Topics included the relationship between oral and written language, acquisition of literacy, biliteracy, the relationship between literacy and socioeconomic/sociopolitical factors, and the impact of societal…

Third Digest addresses several aspects of assigning grades, beginning with a discussion of the variability of test scores, and reviewing the use of standardized scores, ideas on assigning letter grades, and recommendations for grading. An important characteristic of grades as initially recorded, the variability of the scores of each test or…