E.O. Leont'eva's article "Education from the Seamy Underside: Experience from a Pilot Survey of "Shadow" Relations in Colleges and Universities," published in the December 2004 issue of the journal "Sotsiologicheskie issledovanii," described informal practices for getting grades. The empirical base was the findings of…

This article explores the problem of assigning grades to students engaged in nontraditional activities, especially scientific inquiry. We suggest using scoring rubrics to guide students in their work and to assist teachers with grading. We present the steps involved in the construction of rubrics, and we show sample rubrics. (Contains 5 figures.)

We determine how much observed student performance in microeconomics principles can be attributed, inferentially, to three kinds of student academic "productivity," the instructor, demographics, and unmeasurables. The empirical approach utilizes an ordered probit model that relates student performance in micro to grades in prior…

This proposal focuses on the grading system used for preservice student teachers in the Faculty of Education's certificate and degree programs at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. A rationale for an appraisal system with finer delineations than the existing pass-fail system is presented. This rationale is based on the beliefs that standards of quality…

This conference was held to help educators (1) obtain a clearer understanding of the major controversy over current grading practices, (2) share ideas on grading, (3) obtain information on grading alternatives, and (4) learn how to bring about changes in grading procedures. Topics discussed include the relationship of the evaluation of student…

In studies of the SAT, correlations of SAT scores, high school grades, and socioeconomic factors (SES) are usually obtained using a university as the unit of analysis. This approach obscures an important structural aspect of the data: The high school grades received by a given institution come from a large number of high schools, all of which have…

Although increasing numbers of students with disabilities are included in general education classrooms for greater portions of the day, little guidance or direction has come from the field of special education to help address the challenge of grading students in inclusive settings. The shift to standards-based grading and reporting has further…

Raising attainment has become an over-riding concern for politicians and educational administrators on both sides of the Atlantic. The public perception, often generated by adverse reports in the media, is of declining educational standards. However, it is often difficult to compare standards across time and between countries since assessments do…

In this paper, we analyse teachers' judgments of students' written texts. We document how teachers use evidence in ways that depend both on their knowledge of the students and on the assessment framework they need to use. We analyse teachers' judgments by contrasting the structures of assessments made using teachers' normal classroom judgment…

K. K. Waltman and D. A. Frisbie (1994) observed that teachers and parents often interpret grades given to students in both absolute and relative senses. They conclude that this sort of interpretation is illogical and may indicate misunderstandings in several areas. Absolute and relative methods of assigning letter grades are approached from…

Advocates (1) breaking the lock-step sequencing of courses which places physics at the end of a three-year sequence, (2) adjusting grading procedures to bring them in line with other school courses, and (3) translating abstract concepts into concrete analogies in order to increase physics enrollment. (CP)

Reports on increasing grade inflation in higher education in the United States and offers suggestions for curbing the phenomenon. (CP)

Several techniques to use in evaluation and grading are presented. Some grading problems are discussed briefly. (PEB)

Describes an effective and efficient method to induce students to do physics homework. (CP)

Presents a college program that utilizes a self-paced, mastery-oriented curricula. Courses are subdivided into small complete modules that may require a few hours or a few weeks to complete. Describes development of the modules and disciplinary differencies in their use. (GS)