I’m reading Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment in College, by Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Johnson Anderson.

To think about grading, they emphasize that building learning objectives is core to the process.  They break these into a few categories:

• the vocabulary and content and concepts that students should know,
• solving problems within the discipline,
• following the ethical guidelines of the discipline (citing sources and collaborators, as well as identifying and addressing ethical issues)
• big picture ideas – how does the content expand someone’s worldview?
• development of the habits of mind of the discipline

Because grading is quite labor intensive, Walvoord and Anderson point out that the major assignments should be constructed to match these goals.  One mis-step is that tests often check basic knowledge, rather than focusing on analysis, synthesis, and critical thinking.  In mathematics our grading systems can be focused on process rather than simply rewarding a correct final answer.  For time efficiency, it might be appropriate to use a multiple-choice test for basic content knowledge so that grading time can be focused on synthesis and evaluation skills.

The authors also suggest taking advantage of peers.  Peers are ‘the strongest single source of influence on cognitive and affective development’ (quoted from Astin 1996).  Ideally the task would be better done by a group than by individuals, often because it is complex or because it requires multiple areas of expertise.  It is a task that is hard to divide so that students work together.  One option is to incorporate individual responsibility so that grades may vary between members of the group.

To actually construct assessments, one can engage in the process of “test blueprinting”, where the learning objectives and test questions are linked.  The rubric is also part of this process.

Given a set of tests and assignments, they need to be structured into a course skeleton that generates “an assignment-centered approach”.  To set up the course structure, write summaries “of the skills and knowledge that the exam will test”.  Think about whether these fit the learning goals and create a sustainable workload for students and staff.