This article presents a study on how students experience grading contracts. Data were collected from students at a mid-western four-year university campus, where the population consists of middle- to working-class students. Patterns from the data revealed considerable resistance, verifying the teacher-researcher's ongoing sense of these students'…

If you're a teacher with an academically diverse classroom (and what classrooms aren't today?), you need this resource. Framed around the critical elements for success in today's classrooms, "Making Differentiation a Habit" gives educators specific, user-friendly tools to optimize teaching, learning, and assessment. Following on the heels of Diane…

Because you can't possibly know exactly what will motivate every student, it's vital to have a reliable blueprint and a set of strategies that are proven to work across a broad spectrum of students. That's why you need this book from a teacher and psychologist with over 30 years of experience. Drawing from recent research of the concepts of…

Purpose: Student evaluation of teaching (SET) questionnaires are used in many countries, although much current research questions the validity of these surveys. US research indicates that more than 90 percent of academic accounting departments use this performance measurement. This paper aims to focus on the validity of SET data.…

Teachers' classroom grading and assessment practices are important elements of assessment reform. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of classroom learning factors such as class size, subject area, and school size on teachers' classroom assessment practices. The results of a survey of 513 high school teachers showed evidence that…

This article illustrates the sometimes unproductive tensions between community engagement goals in teaching writing and academic trends and institutional structures that influence grading practices and the language of authorship. To broaden instructors' understandings of possibilities for the relatively peaceful coexistence of individual and…

In this paper, we present two new methods for evaluating students' answerscripts based on the similarity measure between vague sets. The vague marks awarded to the answers in the students' answerscripts are represented by vague sets, where each element u[subscript i] in the universe of discourse U belonging to a vague set is represented by a…

Barbour recounts his experience as a teacher of religious studies to students whose political and social stances are related to conservative religious views. Differentiating between students who are thoughtful participants or silent observers and those who stridently label the academic community as liberally-biased, Barbour describes his…

This report of the Undergraduate Committee, Center for Teaching and Learning, University of North Dakota, to the University Curriculum Committee recommends the continued use of a system for reporting student progress according to three categories: CR for credit received, CD for credit deferred, and CW for credit withdrawn. After a discussion of…

In February and March 1979, students, faculty, and staff at South Oklahoma City Junior College were surveyed to determine their feelings toward the change from a one-mark grading system (M for mastery of the subject) to a three-mark system (MH for mastery with honors, M for mastery, and CR for credit). Of the student sample, 53.8% (N=574)…

Of the many issues facing higher education, perhaps none has been more frequently and hotly debated by college administrators, instructors, and students, than the issue of college grading purposes and practices. Regretably, much of the research to date has been poorly done and hence has led to few changes. The purpose of this research was to…

A study conducted at Alma College to determine how and why grade inflation occurred is discussed. Grade inflation is seen as being caused by many factors including calendar changes, requirement reductions, better defined grading scales, and shifts in faculty attitudes. (MLW)

This essay responds to Jane Danielewicz's and Peter Elbow's recent piece on contract grading in "College Composition and Communication" (December 2009). I discuss the similarities of their approach to my own contract process, finding that we share a quantitative/performative method for grading. I also explore our differences. While they guarantee…

In 2005, the undergraduate advisory committee at the University of Toronto Mississauga found that across all disciplines, writing proficiency was the skill weakness that generated the greatest concern. Students reported that they often found writing tasks intimidating, and suggested that effective feedback and guidance would improve their writing.…

Reader-friendly and practical, Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word is filled with tools you can use every day to raise the level of rigor in your classroom. These strategies can be incorporated immediately across content areas, grades, and subjects. Barbara Blackburn clearly defines what rigor is and how individual teachers can provide challenging…