Announced Repetitive Tests as a Basis for Self-Directed Study and Evaluation

College students voluntarily took all their courses or one course on a pass-fail basis. The mean grade point average (GPA) before conversion to pass-fail for freshmen taking all their courses on a pass-fail basis was 1.67 (C-), which is significantly lower than the 2.26 (C+) for controls who wanted but were denied pass-fail grading. Even after returning to conventional grading the former pass-fail students continued to get significantly lower grades than controls. Juniors taking one course on a pass-fail basis received significantly lower grades, before conversion, in their pass-fail course (mean 2.07) than did controls who wanted but were denied pass-fail grading (mean 2.40). There was no compensatory improvement in the grades received in non-pass-fail courses.     

THE PASS-FAIL GRADING OPTION AT A STATE UNIVERSITY: A FIVE SEMESTER EVALUATION1

To evaluate the pass-fail grading option, course and grade data were generated each semester. Faculty and student attitudinal data were obtained once. Because pass-fail students were not identified to instructors, all students were given traditional A-E grades. During administrative data processing, the A-E grades of pass-fail students were converted to pass or fail. In comparison with traditionally graded students in the same classes, pass-fail students received lower grades on the average. The pass-fail option proved to be popular. Students favored the pass-fail option, although their reasons for electing the option were not necessarily in accord with the official rationale, to foster exploration. Perhaps because they perceived students as abusing the option, the small faculty sample had somewhat negative attitudes toward the pass-fail system.     

An Experiment with Grouping of Freshman English Composition Students

The thesis that low grades cause college students to give up receives some support from early psychological research and from current reinforcement theories. In the present study the effects on subsequent grades of low, average, and high first exam grades were investigated for 192 students in a traditional grading system and fifty-four students in a pass-fail grading system. When regression effects were eliminated, it was found that students receiving D’s and F’s dropped out significantly more than other students, but low graded students who continued the course did better on a later exam. Relative to others, students receiving A’s on the first exam did significantly better on a second exam. Students on the pass-fail system did not show any significant effects from first exam grades, but overall they received significantly lower grades than those on the traditional grading system. The results, though inconclusive, support grading systems which minimize low grades and maximize high grades.     

The Relation between Junior High-School Students’ Problems and Parental Attitudes toward Child Rearing and Family Life

Abstract

This study investigated selected factors relevant to the frequently stated justification for the use of the pass-fail grading at the undergraduate level. Three samples of seventy-five students each were used to investigate the relation between overall, within major, and outside major GPA’s. The outside major GFA was significantly below the overall and within major GPA’s. Stratified random samples of students from four overall GPA ranges were selected from students who had elected a pass-fail course. For each GPA strata, the actual grades earned in pass-fail courses, for within and outside the major, were significantly lower than the previously earned GPA’s.     

Metacognitive monitoring in university classes: anticipating a graded vs. a pass-fail test affects monitoring accuracy

Three field studies tested the hypothesis that anticipating a graded test as opposed to a pass-fail test enhances metacognitive monitoring. Participants were teacher candidates who completed a mid-term and a final test in psychology courses. Each participant chose whether the result of the final test should be evaluated with one of five grades or with a pass-fail decision. In both tests, participants answered true–false inference items about the contents of the course and indicated their confidence in the correctness of each answer. When a graded test was expected, confidence and the absolute accuracy of the confidence judgments increased and bias decreased to a greater extent than when a pass-fail decision was expected. However, expecting a grade increased participants’ confidence not only in correct answers but also in incorrect answers (Study 1). Feedback and instructions emphasizing the importance of accurate discrimination between correct and incorrect answers did not weaken this effect (Study 2). The generalizability of the findings was investigated by reanalyzing the test results of participants in eight other psychology courses (Study 3). The results are discussed in terms of the motivational consequences of grading.     

The Pass-Fail Option: The Congruence between the Rationale for and Student Reasons in Electing

Abstract

The purposes of this study were (1) to determine if the pass-fail option was primarily exercised in courses outside the academic majors of university students and (2) to examine the reasons for electing and the influence of pass-fail on learning, motivation, anxiety, and grade aspiration. The percentages of students electing pass-fail in courses within and outside major were calculated. The responses of within major students were compared with the responses of outside major students, using chi-square tests of independence. The responses of the total sample were also examined. The rationale for the pass-fail system was inconsistent with the frequency of and the reasons for student election of the option. Students reported a lowering of anxiety, motivation, aspirations, and learning.     

Enrollment patterns and academic performance as a function of registration under a pass-fail grading system

An experimental pass-fail grading system was examined to determine if interdisciplinary exploration was encouraged by modifying the competitive aspects of grading and to examine the performance of students enrolling in pass-fail courses in the light of their past achievement and the performance of classmates. Results of the study suggest that the pass-fail grading situation encouraged study across a wider area of subjects, but also was associated with lower achievement as reflected by a familiar grading scheme. A review of the literature indicated that a need for valid evaluation of student progress is acknowledged by virtually all writers, but that numerous arguments attack the manner in which grades are assigned and used and attack the lack of knowledge about the psychometric attributes of traditional grading arrangements.

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Résumé Un système expérimental de notation réussite-échec a été mis à l'étude afin de déterminer si l'on pourrait encourager l'exploration interdisciplinaire en modifiant les aspects compétitifs de la notation et aussi afin d'évaluer le rendement des étudiants inscrits aux cours notés selon système réussite-échec à la lumière des réalisations antérieures de ces étudiants et du rendement de leurs camarades de classe. Les résultats de cette étude laissent entendre que le système en question a encouragé les étudiants à porter leur intérêt vers un plus grand nombre de sujets, mais qu'il s'en est suivi des résultats moins brillants en comparaison des résultats obtenus par le système de notation classique. Une étude de la littérature publiée à ce sujet indique que presque tous les auteurs reconnaissent la nécessité de disposer d'une méthode d'évaluation valable des progrès des étudiants, mais il existe de nombreux arguments contre la façon dont les notes sont accordées et utilisées et contre le manque de connaissance des attributs psychométriques de la méthode de notation traditionnelle.

     

关于高校文科传统考试模式的思考

目前,高校文科的考试模式依然沿袭传统的单向度思维模式,那种以“一张书面考卷定终身”的形式,显然已不能适应教育改革、人才市场需求以及文化多元、哲学社会科学发展创新的新形势。其弊端是对学生的学习积极性、学术意识、创新思想、科学学习方法的培养和学生学习成绩的评价都有不良影响。应打破传统的考试观念,确立为教学目标服务的考试观,寻求符合时代要求、适应学生特点、适合不同学校、不同课程的多种类多层次的考试方式。     

两部件指数型元件温贮备系统可靠性的fiducial置信限

基于元件的定数截尾寿命试验数据和切换开关的成败型试验数据,对两部件温贮备系统可靠性的置信限进行了研究,分别得到了系统精确和近似fiducial置信限模型,最后给出随机模拟例子并讨论了置信限的精度．     

一种新的计算混合先验中继承因子的方法

研究了在成败型试验中,历史样本与现场样本异总体对可靠性评定的影响,分析了使用混合先验分布的合理性,给出了用Kullback信息量确定混合先验分布中继承因子的方法,并在算例中对该方法与其他方法进行了比较,说明了该方法的有效性．     

对广东省属高校教师聘任制改革的思考及建议

广东省属高校教师聘任制改革多是形式大于内容,这与目前广东省高校教师评聘分离的现状密切相关。国内部分省属、市属高校已经进行了“以聘代评”的相关改革,广东省属高校的教师聘任制改革应该从“准入制度”、职务评聘制度、分配制度、考核制度等方面进行把握。     

Specifications-Based Grading in an Introduction to Proofs Course

This article describes a system of specifications-based grading used in an introduction to proofs course. The system was introduced to address two issues that arose in the course: how to spend less time grading and how to encourage use of feedback. We describe the implementation of the system and the results on grading and on students.     

A new framework for grading

Grading is one of the least liked, least understood and least considered aspects of teaching. After years of work, we have developed a grading system that is quite different from traditional and reformed approaches to grading and which meaningfully incorporates and integrates the collection of evidence, the evaluation of evidence, and the reporting of judgments about that evidence. This system satisfies the requirements of good grading system and answers many of the problems faced by more traditional methods by substantially changing the way in which grade information is aggregated, resulting in a final course grade that aligns qualitative evaluation with course learning objectives and carries direct qualitative meaning with respect to the course learning objectives.     

Pan‐European Grading Scales: Lessons from National Systems and the ECTS

This article assesses the impact of the Bologna Process on the grading schemes of EU member countries. In light of some problems regarding the implementation of the European Credit Transfer system (ECTS), the author proposes further reforms and offers some elements of a unified grading system for European higher education. The author explores the variation among Europe's grading systems and the resulting lessons learned are shared here. Lastly, this article also argues that principles of justice and fairness, deemed central to academic freedom, are best upheld by the use of a unified grading system at national and European levels.     

Plus/minus grading and motivation: an empirical study of student choice and performance

This paper considers whether student motivation might be impacted by the replacement of a straight (A, B, C, D, F) grading system with a plus/minus system (A, A?, B+ … D?, F). The data that are examined are from several undergraduate economics classes at a mid‐sized midwestern university in the United States. The data includes student characteristics, student performance and students’ choices of either a plus/minus or a straight grading system. In this admittedly small‐scale study students, who chose plus/minus grading, were not significantly more motivated than students who opted for straight grading.     

Java语言程序设计题自动阅卷技术研究

程序设计题自动阅卷技术是程序设计语言考试实现无纸化的重点与难点所在。分析了现有自动阅卷技术的特点,提出基于XML的采分点匹配技术,将标准答案引入XML结构、采用正则表达式匹配的方法进行评分。实验结果证明,该系统运行稳定,与人工评分的结果大致相符。     

皮具工匠人才分级指标要素分析及实施路径研究

在过去的40年里,广东省花都区狮岭皮具专业镇借助我国改革开放政策的大潮实现了产业的快速发展。狮岭皮具专业镇的健康发展对于拉动地方经济发展、优化地方经济结构、推动地方产业转型升级发挥着极为重要的作用。皮具工匠人才培养分级指标的设定,对扭转当前皮具工匠人才供给不足的现状、促进皮具工匠职业化成长和满足狮岭皮具专业镇产业升级的实际需求都具有重要意义。通过对皮具工匠人才分级指标要素的分析,探究出一系列推动皮具人才分级指标实施路径,包括工匠精神在工匠人才分级体系的渗透、现代学徒制在皮具工匠人才分级指标体系的实现、皮具专业镇产业结构深化调整、皮具专业镇特色产业集群做大做强、分级指标培养体系引导人力资源聚集等,从而实现广东省皮具工匠人才专业素养的提升,促进皮具专业镇的可持续发展。     

基于计算机视觉技术的苹果分选检测研究

苹果的大小和缺陷是苹果分级的重要指标,文章简要介绍了国内外利用计算机视觉技术进行苹果分选的研究状况,设计了基于计算机视觉的对苹果分选的检测系统,提出了一种在运动状态下检测苹果大小和缺陷的R通道方法,并对检测系统进行了试验,结果显示,该算法可达到实际应用的要求。     

利用XML的采分点匹配评分技术

分析了现有自动阅卷技术的特点,提出基于XML的采分点匹配技术,标准答案引入XML结构,采用正则表达式匹配的方法进行评分,具有较好的灵活性.实验结果证明该系统运行稳定,与人工评分的结果大致相符.     

Standards for Teacher Tests

States are increasingly requiring that public school teachers pass one or more tests as a condition for permanent employment. As a result of a recent federal court decision, these tests must now satisfy the same legal standards as other employment tests. Moreover, some of the measures used to assess teacher competence no longer rely on multiple-choice items. They now utilize various types of open-ended performance assessments. This article discusses how these developments may affect the adverse impact, reliability, validity, and pass-fail standards of teacher certification tests. The article concludes by recommending that such tests combine multiple-choice questions with open-end tasks that focus on the common or critical situations that are likely to arise across the full range of practice setting for which the teacher is being certified or licensed.