Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices that Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education
| AUTHOR | Clark, David; Nilson, Linda Burzotta; Talbert, Robert |
| PUBLISHER | Routledge (07/03/2023) |
| PRODUCT TYPE | Paperback (Paperback) |
Are you satisfied with your current and traditional grading system? Does it accurately reflect your students' learning and progress? Can it be gamed? Does it lead to grade-grubbing and friction with your students?The authors of this book - two professors of mathematics with input from colleagues across disciplines and institutions - offer readers a fundamentally more effective and authentic approach to grading that they have implemented for over a decade.
Recognizing that traditional grading penalizes students in the learning process by depriving them of the formative feedback that is fundamental to improvement, the authors offer alternative strategies that encourage revision and growth.Alternative grading is concerned with students' eventual level of understanding. This leads to big changes: Students take time to review past failures and learn from them. Conversations shift from "why did I lose a point for this" to productive discussions of content and process.Alternative grading can be used successfully at any level, in any situation, and any discipline, in classes that range from seminars to large multi-section lectures. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to alternative grading, beginning with a framework and rationale for implementation and evidence of its effectiveness. The heart of the book includes detailed examples - including variations on Standards-Based Grading, Specifications Grading, and ungrading -- of how alternative grading practices are used in all kinds of classroom environments, disciplines and institutions with a focus on first-hand accounts by faculty who share their practices and experience. The book includes a workbook chapter that takes readers through a step-by-step process for building a prototype of their own alternatively graded class and ends with concrete, practical, time-tested advice for new practitioners.
The underlying principles of alternative grading involve-Evaluating student work using clearly defined and context-appropriate content standards.-Giving students helpful, actionable feedback.-Summarizing the feedback with marks that indicate progress rather than arbitrary numbers.-Allowing students to revise without penalty, using the feedback they receive, until the standards are met or exceeded.
This book is intended for faculty interested in exploring alternative forms of learning assessment as well as those currently using alternative grading systems who are looking for ideas and options to refine practice.
Are you satisfied with your current and traditional grading system? Does it accurately reflect your students' learning and progress? Can it be gamed? Does it lead to grade-grubbing and friction with your students?The authors of this book - two professors of mathematics with input from colleagues across disciplines and institutions - offer readers a fundamentally more effective and authentic approach to grading that they have implemented for over a decade.
Recognizing that traditional grading penalizes students in the learning process by depriving them of the formative feedback that is fundamental to improvement, the authors offer alternative strategies that encourage revision and growth.Alternative grading is concerned with students' eventual level of understanding. This leads to big changes: Students take time to review past failures and learn from them. Conversations shift from "why did I lose a point for this" to productive discussions of content and process.Alternative grading can be used successfully at any level, in any situation, and any discipline, in classes that range from seminars to large multi-section lectures. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to alternative grading, beginning with a framework and rationale for implementation and evidence of its effectiveness. The heart of the book includes detailed examples - including variations on Standards-Based Grading, Specifications Grading, and ungrading -- of how alternative grading practices are used in all kinds of classroom environments, disciplines and institutions with a focus on first-hand accounts by faculty who share their practices and experience. The book includes a workbook chapter that takes readers through a step-by-step process for building a prototype of their own alternatively graded class and ends with concrete, practical, time-tested advice for new practitioners.
The underlying principles of alternative grading involve-Evaluating student work using clearly defined and context-appropriate content standards.-Giving students helpful, actionable feedback.-Summarizing the feedback with marks that indicate progress rather than arbitrary numbers.-Allowing students to revise without penalty, using the feedback they receive, until the standards are met or exceeded.
This book is intended for faculty interested in exploring alternative forms of learning assessment as well as those currently using alternative grading systems who are looking for ideas and options to refine practice.
Dr. Nilson's workshop repertoire includes comprehensive course design by student-learning objectives, interpreting student evaluations, peer assessment of teaching for promotion and tenure, interactive lecturing, learning styles, getting students to do the readings, case study design and debriefing, problem-based learning, cooperative learning, discussion management, questioning techniques, student-peer feedback instruments, developing a graphic syllabus, techniques for grading writing, and designing tests and assignments. In 1998, Anker Publishing released the first edition of Teaching at Its best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors and has just released the second. It is the most up-to-date and comprehensive teaching methods book on the market.
In addition to Teaching at its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors. Dr. Nilson has written three book-length instructional handbooks for her employing universities. She has also published articles and book chapters on the graphic syllabus, improving student-peer feedback, teaching large social science courses, mentoring graduate students. TA training, critical thinking, and designing and publishing research on teaching. As a sociologist, she conducted research in the area of occupations and work, social stratification, political sociology, and disaster behavior.
Dr. Nilson's career also included several years in the business world as a technical and commercial writer, a training workshop facilitator, and business editor of a Southern California magazine.
A native of Chicago, Dr. Nilson was a national Science Foundation Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she received her Ph.D. and M.S degrees in sociology. She completed her undergraduate work in three years at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.