100 Years of Grading Research: Meaning and Value in the Most Common Educational Measure

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Grading refers to the symbols – typically numbers or letters – assigned to individual pieces of student work or to composite measures of student performance created for report cards. This session presents a review of over 100 years of grading research: (1) early studies of grading unreliability; (2) quantitative studies of the composition of K-12 report card grades and educational outcomes; (3) survey studies of teachers’ grading practices and perceptions; (4) studies of standards-based grading; and (5) grading in higher education. Empirical study of the meaning of grades has changed over time, from initial expectations that grades reflected “intelligence,” through the expectation that they should mirror tested achievement, to investigations of grades as multidimensional measures of both cognitive and non-cognitive factors.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Classroom Assessment

Chair

• Thomas R. Guskey, University of Kentucky

Papers

• Early Studies of the Unreliability of Grades - Susan M. Brookhart, Duquesne University; Thomas R. Guskey, University of Kentucky

• Quantitative Studies of K–12 Report Card Grades and Related Educational Outcomes - Alex J. Bowers, Teachers College, Columbia University

• K–12 Teachers' Perspectives About Grading and Grading Practices - James H. McMillan, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Standards-Based Grading - Megan E. Welsh, University of California - Davis; Michael Terrence Stevens, University of California - Davis

• Grading in Higher Education - Jeffrey K. Smith, University of Otago; Lisa F. Smith, University of Otago