Principals play a key leadership role in school effectiveness and student success; however, one area that has received relatively little attention so far is principals' embedded understanding of assessment and grading within the educational context where they work. We examined 141 Chinese school principals' conceptions of assessment and grading…

The present qualitative action research study was conducted to gain further understanding of administrator and teacher perceptions about grading systems in elementary schools, administrators' and teachers' ability to ensure consistent and fair practices and any correlation that grades may have to students' social, emotional, and/or academic…

Great things happen when students are able to focus on their learning instead of their scores. However, assessment reform, including standards-based grading, remains a hotly debated issue in education. "Going Gradeless" shows that it is possible to teach and assess without the stress of traditional grading practices. Sharing their…

Recent reforms in England and the USA give evidence that teaching methods and content can change rapidly, given a strong external pressure, for example through economic incentives, inspections, school choice, and public display of schools' and pupils' performances. Educational activities in the Scandinavian countries have increasingly become…

Given the longstanding role of grades in education, and their increased use for high-stakes decisions including student mobility, admission, selection, and accountability, this paper presents a systematic review of grading policies across all 10 Canadian provinces and 3 territories. In total, 23 policies were inductively analyzed for their…

Relying on teachers' assessments for the information currently provided by standardized test scores would save instructional time, better capture the true abilities of diverse students, and reduce the problem of teaching to the test. A California high school is implementing standards-based reporting, ensuring that teacher-issued grades function as…

As school districts deliberate over reopening schools with the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, we've developed this report with strategic guidance on how to harness our current opportunity to transform K-12 education. "Education Policy Issues for the COVID-19 Era: Policy Actions and Responses to Leverage the Moment for Future Readiness"…

In this article, the author proposes an innovative, exam-based homework grading method to facilitate both collaboration among students and individual accountability while learning a complex theory and applying it to solve a problem. Results from this novel approach to grading a "comparative advantage theory" homework assignment, using an…

In the four-plus years since the author retired, he has spoken about teaching and learning (T & L) at more than 65 further education colleges, sixth form colleges and conferences. Looking back over these occasions and the emails that he has received from tutors, the author realises that there is one topic more than any other that preoccupies…

Studies of the use of teacher judgement for summative assessment in the USA are considered in two general categories. (1) Studies of teacher classroom summative assessment, that is, teacher grading practices, have historically and currently emphasised the lack of validity and reliability of these judgements. (2) Studies of how teacher judgement…

Despite numerous quantitative studies on teachers' conceptions and practices of assessment, little research exists regarding the unique assessment environment of Indonesia. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative data to examine how Indonesian junior high school teachers understand assessment and how their conceptions of assessment…

U.S. teachers grade homework far more than teachers in other countries, yet at least one study shows a negative correlation between grading homework and student achievement. More important, Vatterott notes, grading homework sends students unhelpful signals about the purpose and value of homework. By focusing on the grade, students view homework…

Peer assessment has been gaining significant ground as a means of fostering an environment of accountability and responsibility for group projects in higher education. A popular peer assessment method assigns individual grades via a linear relationship to peer assessment scores. Using this method, a group member who receives his or her group's…

The research on grading practice over two decades is clear: grading practices are firmly held beliefs that are near and dear to the teaching professional. At a time when government, business and industry, and the general public are calling for an accountability of student knowledge and abilities, classroom assessment practices could be…

This paper is part of a series investigating the implementation of competency education. The purpose of the paper is to explore how districts and schools can redesign grading systems to best help students to excel in academics and to gain the skills that are needed to be successful in college, the community, and the workplace. In order to make the…