Students' Perceptions of Classroom Assessment and Grading

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Assessment Design: Diverse Principles, Benchmark Evaluations, and Validation Insights (Table 25)

Abstract

Students’ perceptions of classroom assessment and grading are central to the understanding of student learning and motivation-related outcomes. This grounded theory study investigated secondary students’ perspectives on the benefits/usefulness and fairness of classroom assessments and grading to gain students’ contextual insights and to better understand the effects of classroom assessment and grading practices. An open-ended survey question administered to 4,345 secondary students in two Northeastern U.S. school districts formed the basis of this study. Results from reported comments revealed that students favor the use of letter grades for communicating learning progress and desire change with classroom assessment policies and practices used to determine grades. The nature of such change is discussed along with implications for classroom practice and reform implementation.

Authors

• Laura J. Link, University of North Dakota

• Cheryl A. Hunter, University of North Dakota