The biggest challenges to setting up a grading system is to have a balance in how each assignment is evaluated and scored so that each student was a fair opportunity for success in the course. There may be situations that arise for a student during the course that may affect their attendance or mastery of a particular unit of the course. It is important to have an organized system in place to account for missed classes, assignments, or one poor test score.
James,
I try to use the course objective and daily lesson goals and determine what is most important - that is, what I want (and insist) my students must walk away from my class with. Then I use the routine (tests, quizzes, homework) and other activities (discussion, projects, written assignments, worksheets, class participation) and try to find the appropriate weighted amount each type of assessment is worth. You're right, it's not an easy chore.
Barry Westling
Students learn differently and at different speeds. Setting up a grading system that is fair to all is not as easy as it might appear to be.
Leslie,
First off, my "opinion" is there should not even be a category for extra credit. Good students won't need it and poor students will abuse, at the expense of the regular assignments.
One way to approach assigning weights is to look at every category of graded assignment and estimate is overall worth (contribution) towards student learning. Usually only one measure (i.e., one giant final exam) would not be reasonable. But if you had categories for say, tests, quizzes, homework, project, discussion, and skill oerformance (if appicable), then you look at your learning objectives and ask the question: "to what degree does this category meet the objectives?". Asking this question with each of the categories, and a little tweaking ought to come up with a fairly good starting point. Over time, and with practice, periodic review and revision will probably be needed.
Barry Westling
The biggest challenges that I see setting up a grading system are: trying to figure out how many points it should be wroth, how to grade the students on the assignment, and whether you want to give extra credit.
Michael,
Right. I feel like measuring student learning accurately is as important as the delivery of instruction. Although it's not really true, there's an old adage that says "I have not taught if the student has not learned". Obviously there are a lot of variables. But in general, measuring student learning is vital and a needed component to a comprehensive learning system.
Barry Westling
Agree wholeheartedly. The need for/value of grading rubrics was something I learned a little late. It makes the assessment process so much easier and effective. And communicating the expectations clearly to the students, then consistently following the plan. All are valuable components to an effective/beneficial grading plan!
Carolyn,
To learn material, I think open book tests and quizzes are OK. To assess learning, I think students need to demonstrate their understanding and their grasp of the material. While it's true that an employee can refer to resources and reference material at work, they also have to operate without reliance on external resources. That's where assessment learned material in school comes in.
Barry Westling
Simple and clear is what I strive for with my grading. Also plenty of planned oppertunities for success, such as oral and open book quizes.
Brian,
This is good. With a rubric both instructor and student know in advance (or should) how and the conditions which an assignment will be graded. No surprises. I think rubrics should be thoroughly discussed in advance. And a well written rubric can actually help a student prepare.
Barry Westling
I always use a grading rubric for any graded assignment. This gives the student the objectives and expectations of the assignment.
Lisa,
Electronic grade books are beneficial. These help with the recording of grades. Coming up with the way grades will be calculated is another component altogether. I have found even with electronic grade books, speaking with students frequently and in person gives more power to seeing student improvement.
Barry Westling
I found that an electronic grade book is very efficent. engrade.com is free and easy to set up. It also allows me to customize and set up the weighted percentages and letter grades as the school has them set up
Lydia,
I like rubrics too. For me, they help determine grading criteria both I and the student are bound by. It may also help guide some students in understanding what I feel is more important and therefore provide some insight the student would not ordinarily have access to.
Barry Westling
As a Program Chair I find my biggest challenge is helping new instructors set up grading systems. I for one use rubrics for all of my assignments and have introduced these to all of my instructors. When rubrics are used it clearly shows the student what is expected from the grade the would like at obtain.
Jason,
My thoughts in general are that the grading is fair to all, more important assignments are weighed heavier, and in the end, student learning is being accurately measured. If these conditions are met, there are literally hundreds of options as to how to grade student performance.
Barry Westling
When I start at my current school I had to have a few talks with the admin. to explain the relavance of statistical knowledge when assigning a point scale. My hardest challenge is making sure not to out way different assignments.
Gordon,
When weighted components are used as the basis of grading it sometimes takes some "trial and error" to fine tune exactly where one component should be weight with respect to the other graded components. Ultimately, I want to be as sure as possible that I am accurately measuring student learning. Periodically, this will require some tweaking to make sure that is happening.
Barry Westling
Barry,
This gets students involved and helps in understanding the class structure. When a student request a grade weight change I respond with the why and how the weigh fits into class structure if the student response with a good argument why it should be changed then the following week I give a responds of why it did not change or why it was not changed, most of the time the point structure does not change.
Gordon Semple
Andrew,
The way I look at it is as measuring the degree of learning. For instance, it would rare (impossible) that a student would not learn anything. On the other hand it's inspiring (and rare) when a student masters all material in a course. I expect my assessment and grading system to measure the learning in both these extremes, and everywhere in between.
Barry Westling
