I.             Principles of Managing the Grading Process

1)                 Appreciate the Complexity of Grading; Use It as a Tool for Learning
2)                 Substitute Judgment for Objectivity
3)                  Distribute Time Effectively
4)                  Be Open to Change
5)                  Listen and Observe
6)                  Communicate and Collaborate with Students
7)                  Integrate Grading with Other Key Principles
8)                  Seize the Teachable Moment
9)                  Make Student Learning the Primary Goal
10)               Be a Teacher First, a Gatekeeper Last
11)               Encourage Learning-Centered Motivation
12)               Emphasize Student Involvement

These twelve suggests do not eliminate all the problems with the grading system in classrooms and institutions. They do, however provide a focus that helps faculty construct classroom grading systems that are conductive to learning and that also create information about student learning that can be used for departmental and general education assessment.

 II.         Six Suggestions for Making Assignments worth Grading (course planning sequence)

1)                  Begin by considering what you want your students to learn
2)                  Select tests and assignments that both teach and test the learning you value most.
3)                  Construct a course outline that shows the nature and sequence of major tests and assignments.
4)                  Check that the tests and assignments fit your learning goals and are feasible in terms of workload.
5)                  Collaborate with your students to set and achieve goals.
6)                  Give students explicit directions for their assignments.

III.        Strategies for Time-Effective Grading

1)                  Separate commenting from grading, and use them singly or in combination according to your purpose.
2)                  Do not give to all students what only some need.
3)                  Use only as many grade levels as you need.
4)                  Frame comments to your students’ use.
5)                  Do not waste time on careless student work.
6)                  Use what the students know.
7)                  Ask students to organize their work for your efficiency.
8)                  Delegate the work.
9)                  Use technology to save time and enhance results.

 IV.        Using the classroom Grading Process for Departmental or General Education Assessment

Basic Assessment Plan: Collect and Analyze the Data Generated by Faculty’s Classroom Grading Processes 

V.   Addressing Assessment Goals through Grading Process Data

Department or General Education Assessment might use data that emerge from classroom grading to address assessment goals. Three questions should be addressed:

1. Who needs to know, and why?
2. Which data are collected from the chosen classrooms?
3. How does the assessment committee (or other body) analyze data and present findings?

Case studies and hypothetical examples can be reviewed in Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment by Barbara E. Walvoord and Virginia Johnson Anderson. For more information about the book contact the Assessment Office on the Helena Campus.

These websites are reiterations of the original paper:

•   http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html 
    This is an article entitled "Implementing the Seven Principles:Technology as Lever"
     by Chickering and  Ehrmann, 1996
•   http://www.csuhayward.edu/wase/pdfs/End%20Note.pdf
•   http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/7princip.htm
•   http://www.winona.edu/president/seven.htm
•   http://irc.uci.edu/TRG/Enhancing_Learning/Principles_Good_Practice.htm

Online Resource and teaching tips

The books listed below are available in the Assessment Office for review. Contact Debbie Hardy for more information.