1. Effective Grading Strategies Alison Morrison-Shetlar Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning Adapted from the book Effective Grading by Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Anderson ISBN 0-7879-4030-5

2. Grading Tailoring the test to the learning goals Establishing criteria and standards Helping students acquire skills and knowledge Assessing student learning Student motivation Feedback so that students can learn for their mistakes Use results to plan future teaching methods

3. Grading uses Evaluation – valid, fair and trustworthy judgment of the student’s work Communication – to student, employer, grad school Motivation – affects how a student studies, how much time they spend on an assignment and how involved they become in a course Organization – marks transitions, brings closure and focuses efforts of students and teachers

4. Assessment Should: –Answer questions people care about –Lead to improvement –Be in context –Take place repeatedly over time

5. Making assignments worth grading Save time by planning your grading from the beginning of the course Questions to ask –What do you want your students to learn? –What tests and assignments will both teach and test the learning that is to be valued? –What is the nature and sequence of the major tests and assignments? –Do the tests that are developed fit the learning goals set? –Have goals been set and achieved? –Have I given the students explicit directions of assignments?

6. At the end of this course my students will be able to:

7. Motivation to learn Assignment centered model Rubric for guidance – develop one! Check list Summary of skills and knowledge needed Do your tests fit your goals?

8. Making grading more time- efficient Separate commenting from grading Do not give to all students what only some need Reduce your grade levels Frame comments to be useful to your students - when they need them Don’t waste time on careless work Use what the students know Ask the students to organize their own work Delegate the work

9. Establishing Criteria for Grading Saves time grading Makes the process consistent and fair Explains to students what you expect Shows you what to teach Determines the difference between information and processes Helps students participate in their own learning Helps students evaluate their own, and each others work Saves you time explaining criteria after they have handed their work in, in an attempt to justify their grades Help students peers give constructive feedback

10. Compare and contrast Specify criteria – give and example of what is really expected. Don’t assume that the students know what you mean if they have never had any practice at it. Use checklists, key questions, worksheets, peer response sheets and drafts

11. Primary Trait Analysis (PTA) A scoring rubric –Criteria may differ depending on the assignment –Designed to score essays on the Nat. Assessment of Educational Progress –Provides a common format for criteria and standards

12. Characteristics of PTA 1. Identify the factor or traits that will count for the scoring (thesis, materials and methods, use of color, eye contact with client) 2. Builds a scale of scoring the students performance on that trait 3. Evaluates the students performance against those criteria Show examples: p 69 in book

13. What is an A paper? Defining these characteristics helps you see what you have focused on. Is that clear to your students? Define for them also.

14. Developing the PTA criteria Set the number of levels you will have for each component Define each level for yourself and the student Try it out on a past student paper to see if the criteria work for you and give you the grade that you the “feel’ the student should have obtained.

15. How long does it take? Once you have established criteria you can use the same rubric for many different assignments, changing only some of the content specifics Remember the goals of your course do not change but the goals for the assignments may differ somewhat. PTA can be used as a learning tool for the student and doesn’t need to be for grading. Can prevent you writing the same comments on many different student papers

16. Example Multiple choice questions –Different levels of questions Level A – higher critical thinking (analysis, synthesis, evaluation)where there is no directly visible connection between the course material and the question Level B – Lower critical thinking (application) where there is a direct connection between course materials and question Level C – knowledge and comprehension levels where material is directly from course materials with only slight change in wording or phrasing. –Look carefully at your tests – how many of each type of question do you have in the test and does distribution reflect your course goals for your students?