Full Description
Too often teachers and schools operate with grading systems that are vestiges of an antiquated educational model with little fresh thinking as to how grades affect student learning. In On Grades and Grading, Timothy Quinn addresses this problem head on, offering an in-depth and nuanced analysis of the purposes grades can serve, as well as their impact on student learning. Quinn takes a hard look at the three pedagogical purposes for grades - providing data about students, motivating students, and providing students with feedback on their work. He then goes on to address a number of specific and, at times, controversial grading related issues, including grade inflation, grading collaborative work, grading and failure, the grading of behaviors and dispositions, and the use of technology in grading. Educators will find both concrete strategies for improving their grading systems and policies and, perhaps most importantly, a rich resource for improving student learning. Ultimately, Quinn hopes to create a world in which students, parents, and teachers all pay more attention to learning and less to grades themselves.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Part 1: Grades - Definitions and Purposes
Grades DefinedThe Pedagogical Purposes of GradesPart 2: Issues in Grading
Grade InflationThe Forms Grades Take: Numbers vs. LettersDetermining Summative GradesGrading and Failure: Retakes and RewritesGrading Behaviors and DispositionsGrading Collaborative WorkSelf-Assessment and Self-GradingTechnology and the Grading ProcessThe Issue of InconsistencyThe Advantages and Disadvantages of RubricsHow to Report GradesPart 3: Conclusion
Shifting the Focus from Grades to Learning
12 Steps to Improving Your Grading System
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
About the Author
