Teachers' Perceptions of Grading Practices: How Preservice Training Makes a Difference

• In Event: Preservice Teachers' Understandings and Practice in Formative Assessment and Grading

Abstract

This study examines 2,996 K-12 teachers’ perceptions of grading practices, which reveal that middle/high school teachers from non-traditional training backgrounds favored the practice of conflating students’ behavior with academic mastery. With increasing teacher shortages, especially in large urban districts, more non-traditional teachers are being employed. As these teachers deliver ineffective grading practices, the negative impacts students are facing in urban environments are multiplied—and students’ academic achievement is put at risk. As a result, there is a heightened urgency to better understand teachers’ perceptions of grading practices and put them to use for identifying pre-service training efforts meant to help teachers improve.

Author

• Laura J Link, Indiana University - Purdue University