Grading with points: The determination of report card grades by high school science teachers

School Science and Mathematics, Mar 1998 by Feldman, Allan, Alibrandi, Marsha, Kropf, Aaron

Findings

Note that both the survey and interview data consist primarily of teachers' reports on what they do and believe, rather than observations of what the teachers do. This limitation of the study must be recognized.

Teachers' Assessment Techniques

Tables 1, 2, and 3 provide mean values for the factors teachers reported using to determine report card grades. Table 1 gives means for all teachers and is categorized by the various subjects taught. Table 2 groups the data by teachers' experience and gender and the setting of the school. Table 3 provides a ranking of the factors from most important to least by mean value and includes standard deviations.

The data in Table 3 indicate that, on the average, only a small subset of these techniques were used regularly by the teachers sampled for assessment purposes. That is, high school science teachers primarily used tests and quizzes, lab work, and traditional forms of class and homework to determine report card grades. Project work, major examinations, performance assessments, and oral exams, tests, or quizzes were rarely used. These teachers report that they rarely, if ever, used two forms of assessment greatly encouraged in recent reforms: portfolios and journals. Only one nonachievement trait-effort made by students-was reported as being used in a small way for assigning grades. Other nonachievement traits-student work habits, attendance, and behavior-were reported as being rarely used, if ever. These results appear to coincide with Nava and Loyd's ( 1992) findings: Teachers report that the most important criteria for grading should include effort, unit tests, semester tests, and announced quizzes, essays, or term papers, and should probably include homework assignments, projects, and lab reports. The two studies also agree that the only nonachievement trait identified as important for grading purposes was student effort.

Regarding the relative importance of different assessment techniques, statistical testing (t-tests) indicated that there were no significant differences among teachers in different school settings. However, there were significant differences among teachers of different subjects. Oral exams were more important for biology teachers (M = 2.97, p

There were few significant differences among teachers sorted by years of experience for any of these assessment techniques. Novice teachers rated oral exams and quizzes lower than experienced teachers (M = 1.63, p

Section 3 of the survey instrument asked teachers to indicate their primary basis for assigning grades. Half the teachers (50%) reported that they based students' grades on achievement with respect to absolute standards of performance. Twenty-eight percent stated that they determined grades with respect to comparable students, 16% based grades on their students' individual ability, while only 2% based the grades on students' growth during the course (see Figure 1). Cizek et al. (1995) found similar results. Most teachers in that study related final grades to achievement or fixed classroom goals. The findings of Wood, Bennett, Wood, and Bennett (1990) concur-90% of the teachers surveyed said that grades should reflect how much students have learned.