This article describes the 2-5-8 Assessment Plan, an assessment process based on Bloom's taxonomy that allows students to choose test items to complete. Test items are given 2, 5, or 8 points depending on difficulty and students must choose any assignments that total ten points. Grading the assessments is discussed. (Contains one reference.) (CR)

Examined the overall effect of change to a plus/minus grading system on management students and faculty at one public university, using mathematical analysis of grade distribution and a questionnaire. Results indicated that both students and faculty had negative perceptions of the plus/minus system, and that the new system had virtually no effect…

Provides guidelines that trainers can use to make fair judgments in grading subjective essay examinations. Highlights include establishing criteria for scoring; clarifying lesson objectives; dividing each question into smaller components with weighted points for each section; developing grading guidelines; and the increasing use of computers to…

Compares guidelines on grading with actual practices, especially instances in which teachers use grades to control student behavior. Advocates classroom research and the development of consensus on fair grading practices. (SK)

Describes consequences of an inadvertent misalignment in grading practice by analyzing an instructor's essay evaluation checklist. Finds that, in trying to promote evaluative consistency, the checklist privileges product over process, academic discourse over students' own voices, and an analytic predisposition to student writing over an…

Describes a grading system used in a college composition class that shifts the focus away from letter grades and toward continuous student progress. Describes how it is based on a personalized, flexible standard that challenges each student's particular skills as a writer, and encourages real improvement in student writing. (SR)

Advanced-level English and chemistry examinations in Britain were graded in several conditions: with or without examinees' names; with male or female names; and with "male" or "female" handwriting. No consistent evidence of gender bias was found in the marking. (SK)

"The Animal School" provided a powerful metaphor about the importance of individual differences. Nearly half a century later, this article revisits the classic educational tale. It articulates a number of specific changes that schools need to make to be able to meet the physical development needs of all students. (Author/MKA)

Lecturers at a British university participated in two workshops to examine the consistency of assessments of undergraduates' work. Use of both analytical and global quality measures, when clearly understood by the raters, improved assessment practices. Ongoing discussion of evaluation criteria was recommended. (SK)

Presents an approach to contract grading based on a postmodern view of teaching as facilitation. Explains how to negotiate and renegotiate contracts, outlines limitations and challenges, and highlights ways in which contract grading assists in learning management concepts. (Contains 34 references.) (SK)

This paper considers whether student motivation might be impacted by the replacement of a straight (A, B, C, D, F) grading system with a plus/minus system (A, A?, B+ D?, F). The data that are examined are from several undergraduate economics classes at a mid-sized midwestern university in the United States. The data includes student…

An approach to essay grading based on signal detection theory (SDT) is presented. SDT offers a basis for understanding rater behavior with respect to the scoring of construct responses, in that it provides a theory of psychological processes underlying the raters' behavior. The approach also provides measures of the precision of the raters and the…

In school library research programs, a challenge for students doing research emerges when they take their projects home and turn to their parents for assistance. Often parents lack sufficient knowledge of the research process to be able to effectively help their children. Moreover, teachers expect parents to monitor student homework but rarely…

Using small groups in student cooperative learning enterprises has become a major trend in American higher education (Cheng and Warren 2000). However, several practical issues involving the assessment of an individual's performance in groups have sometimes created resistance to the method from both students and parents (Kagan 1995). This article…

Grading policies such as refusing to accept late work, giving grades of zero, and refusing to allow students to redo their work may be intended as punishment for poor performance, but such policies will not really teach students to be accountable, and they provide very little useful information about students' mastery of the material. This article…