The last three decades of the twentieth century will witness a drastic change in the business of providing instruction in schools and colleges. The idea of "individualized instruction" has been pursued in a desultory fashion by American educators for most of the century. There have been several different concepts of individualization, the most…

This practicum examines the phenomenon of academic grade inflation which has occurred in recent years in many two- and four-year institutions of higher education. After a review of the literature, possible grade inflation at Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is examined. The research clearly indicates that very significant…

Since the norm-referenced grading system produces a student-teacher conflict situation, a climate and grading system conducive to supportive interaction seems desirable, especially in an interpersonal communication course. This can be accomplished through contract grading, in which the instructor defines the contract components and the student…

As an instructional aid for beginning computer science courses, two systems are described which permit the automatic diagnosing and grading of student prepared problems. The first system, called SIM 610, is based on a simulator which performs by actually running student programs prepared for a simple tutorial computer used in the classroom. The…

Two articles in this newsletter describe programs related to the use of investigative laboratories in college biology; one reports on student reactions to such laboratories; and two articles describe student directed activities concerned with environmental factors. Comments on the changing role of biology in the 70's, and its implication for…

College sophomores at the United States Naval Academy were homogeneously sectioned in General Physics I and II during the academic year 1968-1969. The better students were selected for General Physics I on the basis of their QPR in their freshman year. The poorer students were selected for the second semester course on the basis of their grades…

Qualitative and quantitative differences in cognitive performance resulting from two different evaluation and reward grading systems were studied among 88 students enrolled in a one-semester "Biological Concepts" course with content from the field of ecology. Students were randomly divided into the experimental and the control groups. One group…

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors in attrition over which Southwestern College might exercise some control and through which experimentation could be conducted toward changing the patterns of attrition. Data were gathered from college files on every student who withdrew from one or more classes for the fall 1971 semester. A…

Certificates are awarded to adult candidates who satisfy the examiners that their standard of ability in everyday English is adequate for them to express themselves in writing and to take an active part in conversations about everyday topics. The examination, which makes use of the techniques of objective testing, is set by a central Examining…

THE OBJECTIVES WERE THE DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNIQUES FOR ASSESSING VARIOUS ASPECTS OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN SPECIFIC CLASSES, AND DEMONSTRATING THE UTILITY OF THE TRADITIONAL CUMULATIVE GRADE POINT AVERAGE. TWO DIFFERENT STRATEGIES WERE EMPLOYED--(1) A MULTIVARIATE CORRELATIONAL STUDY OF GRADING PRACTICES, AND (2) THE USE OF AN OBSERVER IN A WIDE…

As a conclusion to a cycle of English-curriculum development, this bulletin suggests methods and procedures for measuring pupil progress toward the achievement of goals emphasized in previous bulletins. Separate sections deal, in turn, with the place of assessment in the instructional program, types of assessment devices and techniques, assessment…

Results suggest that different groups of judges do set similar examination standards when using the same procedure, and that the average of individual judgments does not differ significantly from group consensus judgments. Significant differences were found, however, between the standards set by the two procedures employed. (RC)

Discusses the correction system for German-French translations used in German universities. The following are proposed: (1) Differentiation of, and a grading scale for, errors; (2) Distinguishing interstructural vs. intrastructural errors, (with suggestion for grading); (3) Localizing errors in grammar or vocabulary, with consequences for grading.…

An exploratory study was conducted to determine why fourth grade pupils ignored written directions and explanations in mathematics textbooks. Results indicated that many teachers' grading practices discouraged children from reading and thinking through word problems on their own. (CW)

Procedures are described which yielded very high inter-judge reliability in grading creative writing.