An educator’s grading policies reflect their beliefs about student learning, motivation, and success. Grading policies often vary across campus, within individual departments, and even between instructors in the same department teaching the same course. Faculty may believe that their grading practices are fair, but often times, grading policies can inadvertently perpetuate achievement disparities.
Some Questions to Consider While Evaluating Your Grading Practices
What are the most important things you want your course grading system to accomplish for you?- What are the most important things you want your course grading system to accomplish for your students?
- What do your grades represent? E.g., do your grades represent student mastery of established learning objectives? Do they represent students’ performance relative to their peers?
- Do you believe only a certain number of students should be able to achieve an A in your course, or do you believe in commending students’ demonstration of learning by conferring a commensurate grade?
- Do you believe student work should be assessed based on a specific set of criteria (criterion grading) or do you believe student work should be assessed in terms of how it measures up against the work of other students (normative grading)?
- Do you believe in assessing grade penalties for late work and other infractions?
Effective Communication of Grading Policies
Regardless of what your grading policies are, it is essential to communicate those policies to students clearly and effectively so that they understand how their academic performance will translate to their course grade. Demystifying your grading system is an important step toward equity. Important elements of what you communicate to students should include the following:
- Explaining the grading process
- Explaining your grading policies
- Explaining grading criteria
- Explaining grading tools
- Returning work in a timely manner
Policies for Late Assignments
One grading policy you will want to consider through an equity-minded lens is your late work policy. Some questions you may want to consider are…
- What do your grades represent?
- What assumptions do you make when students don’t turn in work?
- Are you grading too many things?
- What kind of grading system is realistic for you?
- Is letting students turn in piles of late work just to get the points… pointless?
Some options you might want to consider for equity in your late policy include
- Extension requests
- Late passes
- Floating deadlines
- Work in progress
- Optional or self-selected homework
While grades can be more indicative of how an individual instructor grades than a valid assessment of student learning, there are serious considerations to grading regarding equity. Traditional grading approaches often advantage privileged students while disadvantaging historically underserved students, which can interfere with retention and success efforts. In a recent CITL workshop, we explored this topic in more depth. We encourage you to watch the workshop recording for even more tips on equitable grading, and the resources linked below should help you reflect on and revise your own grading policies to be more fair, consistent, and transparent.
Resources
- Illinois State University, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. (n.d.). Design your course: Module 9: Developing a grading system. Retrieved from https://ctlt.illinoisstate.edu/pedagogy/modules/design/module9/
- Lansing Community College, Center for Teaching Excellence. (n.d.) Determining a grading system for your course. Retrieved from https://www.lcc.edu/cte/resources/teachingtips/course_grading_system.aspx
- McDonald, D. (2016, July 14). Grading and providing feedback: Consistency, effectiveness, and fairness. Retrieved from https://ctl.wiley.com/grading-and-providing-feedback-consistency-effectiveness-and-fairness/
- Nilson, L. B. (2016, January 19). Yes, Virginia, there’s a better way to grade. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/01/19/new-ways-grade-more-effectively-essay
- Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2012). The process of grading. In Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching assistants. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide
- Schwartz, K. (2019, February 10). How teachers are changing grading practices with an eye on equity. Retrieved from https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/52813/how-teachers-are-changing-grading-practices-with-an-eye-on-equity
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Office of Graduate Studies. (2017, February 21). Grading fairly and efficiently. Graduate Connections. Retrieved from https://www.unl.edu/gradstudies/connections/grading-fairly-and-efficiently
- University of South Carolina, Center for Teaching Excellence. (n.d.). Before you begin grading. Retrieved from https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/cte/teaching_resources/grading_assessment_toolbox/before_begin_grading/index.php
- Weimer, M., (2011, July 20). Revisiting extra credit policies [Blog post]. The Teaching Professor. Retrieved from https://www.teachingprofessor.com/topics/for-those-who-teach/revisiting-extra-credit-policies/
