Shares the history of a court case in which students are required to announce grades aloud. Suggests that a professional responsibility of teachers is to build trust between those who hold power and those who do not. Contends that peer grading can serve other roles, such as an opportunity where students can feel comfortable learning from their…

This article includes a definition of grading rubrics, a rationale for their use, the benefits of rubrics, and ways to introduce rubrics to students with learning disabilities using the RUBRIC strategy. Rubric resources for teachers are listed, and common problems and suggestions for using grading rubrics are discussed. (Contains 9 references.)…

Use of student self-evaluation in grading is recommended, and several ways in which self-evaluation may be incorporated into the grading process are described, including grades justified and moderated by faculty and/or peers, criteria generated by peers, weighting, combining self-evaluation with demonstration of competence, and learning and grade…

Outlines a team-grading program for freshman composition in which instructors collaborate to evaluate student writing holistically. Argues that while students may be the major beneficiaries of team grading, the writing program benefits by addressing problems of grade inflation and grade inconsistency, building departmental morale, and contributing…

Offers sufficient responses to 60 of the most frequently made errors in German grammar, plus 13 punctuation rules, and proposes that the instructor hand out this list to the students and henceforth "tag" language errors by the corresponding number, then have the student correct them and resubmit the assignment for a better grade. (GLR)

Mathematics portfolios need not be limited to problem-solving efforts. When California algebra teacher asked students what portfolio contents would show their effort and learning, they suggested daily notes, personal budget and lottery projects, scale drawing, their best and worst tests, weekly problems, daily class notes, and homework. Students…

The reform literature poses classic dilemmas for decision makers leading to inaction, ineffective compromises, and vacillation between opposing choices. Dilemmas exist in the public policy arena, the unregulated private economy, higher learning institutions, and societal traditions and values. This essay examines grading, ability grouping, and…

Examines the A through F system of letter grades used in most schools, suggesting reasons why this framework is inadequate. Proposes a new assessment model which has children demonstrate that they can accomplish a given task on their own. (MDM)

Describes the content, requirements, and pedagogy of a course in data communications and computer networks that was developed at Eastern Michigan University. Highlights include course organization; grading methods; term paper assignment; peer evaluation form for team projects; network application; and analysis and design of networks. (four…

National Assessment of Educational Progress writing sample essays from 1988 and 1990 (495 and 599 essays) were subjected to computerized grading and human ratings. Cross-validation suggests that computer scoring is superior to a two-judge panel, a finding encouraging for large programs of essay evaluation. (SLD)

A peer evaluation experiment in a British polytechnic institute found peer grading correlated positively with teacher grading. A survey of participants (n=70) found that five advantages of peer marking had been achieved and that students believed their work had been marked fairly and the marks should count toward final grades. (Author/MSE)

A preprinted evaluation form and generalizability theory were used to judge the reliability of student grading of their peers' papers. Findings suggest that students can be consistent and fair in their assessments. Student practice in peer evaluation will help develop the management skill of employee evaluation. (JOW)

Offers teaching tips on thematic writing assignments, student resubmission of papers, sharing memorable sentences from students' writings, and nontraditional grading policies in writing classes. (RDS)

Developers of the Intelligent Essay Assessor claim that it saves time in evaluating college students' essays and improves the assessment. This and the growing number of other automated grading programs use the same technologies that make computer-based tutoring possible. Many academics remain skeptical of grading technologies, citing the…

Describes a quarterly rating system developed to replace daily grading in a dental school with a competency-based educational model. Presents results from an early administration of the ratings. These results, for 126 students, show excellent face validity and rater consistency and satisfy the school's standard for grade defensibility. (SLD)