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
|
Classroom Data |
|
Departmental or General Education
Assessment |
 |
Teacher’s
learning goals
(individual or collective
among group or department)
|
|
Test,
assignments
(assessment instruments)
|
|
Teacher
criteria and
standards
|
|
Student
scores over time
(outcomes)
|
|
Evidence of feedback
into leaning and teaching |
|
Can answer these questions |
|
Is assessment taking place in
classrooms?
|
|
What kinds of leaning are we
teaching
and assessing?
|
|
What are common criteria and
standards?
|
|
How do assignments, criteria, and
standards for sequenced courses
relate?
|
|
What are trends in student scores over
time?
|
|
What are areas of weakness and
strength in student scores?
|
|
How do our assignments, criteria, and
standards compare to national tests or
to best practices elsewhere? |
|
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:
- Who needs to know, and why?
- Which data are collected from the chosen classrooms?
- 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.
