Get Your Students Hired
Our home company (Delta Ed) already sets this for us. They are also open to feedback to adjust as needed.
Kimberly,
Grading rubrics are one way to help assign grades fairly, objectively, with the goal of accurately determining to what degree a student has learned required course material. Rubrics can also inform students beforehand how their grade will be determined (unless the rubric contains key assessment information students shouldn't see beforehand).
Barry Westling
Jaclyn,
I look at different grading systems with the idea of "does this measure the degree (or absence of) learning that's occurred. There's always different ways to approach grading, but students who have learned material, have a good grasp and understanding will demonstrate their learning using whatever system is in place. That's why it's important to outline how a student will be graded at the outset, then stick to the plan. Students don't like mid-course changes very well.
Barry Westling
I find the biggest challenge to be flexibility. WIth a weighted system it allows the instructor to add items (in class assignments, homework, or projects) more easily than a points based system. My current work place has recently changed from a weighted system to points based and it is taking some time to transfer my assignments over. I feel there is little flexibility having to stay within the allotted points and still make assignment worth doing in the eyes of the students. With the weighted system I felt I could give in class assignments to help reinforce topics but also give credit for completing an additional assignment. Now I feel more restricted because all of my points will be used up and if I add more items it will deflate the grades that are already in that category. Its been a real adjustment.
Steve,
Creative teachers seem to always come with creative ideas, I'm sure you will find suitable activities that can fairly and accurately measure student challenge points. Student competitions is one way that comes to mind as a possibility.
Barry Westling
Initially... pre rubric, grading was too coarse for the visual arts subject matter. Students were unclear about their tasks. Now we have rubrics and the students are right in tune with the expectations for the class and the individual projects. Rubrics also help in reinforcing those principles of visual design and software technology that are the teaching points of the lesson. My challenge is to build in challenge points now!
Christopher,
When I grade assignments, whenever possible I try to use rubrics -- these provide information that both I and the students will bound by. At times, it really takes effort to be fair and as accurate as possible.
Barry Westling
Thankfully, my department head and institution has set their own grading system; very little tweaking is needed on my part.
Lizette,
Grading by components also allows students to have a balanced measure of their learning. Where they perform well in some categories and lesser in others, their final grade is really a cumulative measure of learning, which is probably more reflective of their overall performance and understanding of course material, as compared to lesser varieties that make a final grade.
Barry Westling
This has been very useful.It is easier to be fair when one can measure grades per categories and percentage. Having graded without this was very stressful. Posting the weight of each assignment ahead is very helpful too.
Sharon,
I think there are hundreds of variations to grading. My guiding mission is being fair, strive to measure learning, and be as objective as possible. Rubrics are great, and more thorough ones help both student and instructor define what an appropriate grade is. I shy away from extra credit as this has to do with grades and points, more than the measurement of learning. Personally I feel if material is important to give credit for, it should part of the required curriculum.
Barry Westling
I generally use a 1000-point scale and provide the students with a detailed excel sheet that breaks down the distribution of those points. Each week, the students receive an updated spreadsheet that shows them their current grade to date and their overall grade in the class.
However, the biggest challenge is creating a rubric for scoring the written assignments. Students often do not know what constitutes a thorough response to a short answer or essay question and a clear rubric helps them to review their own work before submitting it. It is also invaluable to an instructor when explaining to a student why they received the grade they did. I have found that instructors often struggle with the formation of the rubric and its application. Students will still argue the evaluation because there will always be a subjective element to grading written work but having a rubric for reference will help to lower the frequency of these occurrences.
Participation grades are also challenging. What constitutes participation? Is the instructor providing opportunities for participation by all students? Is a variety of participation activities recognized? Generally, I give points for attendance and punctuality. If a serious offense occurs such as leaving early, not returning promptly from break or sleeping in class as well as overt rudeness, I will deduct those points. Often instructors are told to include participation points to help students achieve better grades but there are not clear guidelines on how those participation points are earned or awarded.
Finally, it is challenging to stick to the syllabus as students miss assignments, are absent or score low on exams. Students will ask for more time, make up work or extra credit. The instructor must balance fairness to all students, the individual student’s responsibility to meet the requirements of the syllabus, pressure from the administration and the overall goal of preparing students to be successful in the workplace when deciding how to manage these situations. It is important that students understand that they will be held accountable to the syllabus but instructors must decide how much flexibility is acceptable.
Dorothy,
Many instructor use a similar "component grading" system. In essence, categories of assignments and assessment are given weights, relative to their importance in measuring learning. A very generic model (just for illustration) might be tests (25%), quizzes (20%), homework (15%), class project (15%), discussions (10%), labs (10%), professional development (5%). In this manner, no one category can overshadow the other components, and the instructor is more likely to get a comprehensive view of the students learning. Of course, grading rubrics can be used to measure the individual performance from each of the categories.
Barry Westling
At my college we provide a Rubric based on percentages for each aspect of the class, quizzes, tests, labs. All absences are unexcused and tests lose 10% if not taken on the same day.
Would anyone else be willing to share the above information? As a new instructor I am curious.
Thank you so much.
Gail,
I think this is sound. Many programs do something very similar with the rationale that learning is not limited to just one type of assessment of learning. It goes with delivery of course content using a lot variety. And with that, there is a variety of assessment categories.
Barry Westling
The biggest challenge that I have faced with setting up a grading system was setting up a standardized curriculum. I needed to create a balanced grading scale to include chapter test scores, homework, lab assignments, and final exam scores. It was critical to insure that no category weigh so much that a student would fail the course due to one difficult day or assignment, hence the grading scale needed to be well-balanced.
Gerardo,
Your grading system sounds good. We want to measure learning, and the balance between the different components is critical so as to not give more weight to a less important component, or less weight to a essential component. Although some feel giving points for professionalism merely skews grades upward, I feel this is an important category, and although different from academic measurement, it does measure conformance to specific rules and guidelines that students will need for successfulness in the workplace.
Barry Westling
The method I utilize is presented to the students at the start of the class and repeated at every class if I teach the same group more than one class. The expectations are presented in writing on what and how every one of their activities will be valued and evaluated. In our college the classes are at fast pace therefore there is limited time to make up any missing activity, being this quiz, special assignments or exams and the students are made aware of this.
By policy the school includes professionalism as part of the curriculum for every class, so the students are aware from the beginning what is expected from them as well what they should expect from the isntructor.
Mary,
I agree developing a variety of measurements that contribute to a grade are important. This also allows for students who are say, better writers to excel in one category, where written essay questions may be just so so. The important thing I try remember is that we are trying measure learning, so creating a system that encompasses many areas of assessment just makes sense to me. And, yes, it's important that the system is fair to all. Coming up with such a system requires thought, time, and creative effort but will result in better measurement systems.
Barry Westling