Teacher Grading Factors

Abstract

This study identified some factors associated with teachers' knowledge and beliefs that have impacted scoring math constructed-response (CR) assessment tasks. Five groups of teachers who either had different teaching experiences or had different cultural beliefs about teaching and learning math were selected to score 28 students' responses to seven CR math tasks. Four factors were found to have significant impacts on the rating differences. They were teaching experience, experience with students at particular grade levels, the nature of students' responses, and beliefs in teaching and learning mathematics. The identification of the factors has implications both for promoting validity of test scores and for examining teachers' understanding of student learning targets.

Table of Content

TABLE OF CONTENT3

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION4

Overview4

Purpose of the Study5

Research Question6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW7

Grading Philosophy9

Grading Plan13

Absolute Grading Methods25

Fixed Percent Scale25

Total Point Method26

Content-Based Method27

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY29

Research Design and Data Resource29

Data Collection31

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION33

Results from Four Groups of Chinese Teachers33

Results from Two Groups of In-Service Teachers36

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION39

Summary39

END NOTES40

BIBLIOGRAPHY43

APPENDIX44

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Overview

Philosophies and instructional approaches change as curriculum changes; teachers need to be prepared to adjust their grading plans accordingly. With experience in assigning grades, reporting to students, and observing the impact of grading on learning, many teachers rethink their responses to the philosophical questions enumerated in the "Developing a Grading Philosophy" section. The meanings of the symbols, the characteristics to be judged, the components to include in a grade, and the method used for assigning grades are all issues of value that take on new importance or new meaning as teachers accumulate grading experience and observe the practices of colleagues.

Grading practices also may change as a teacher's instructional approach changes. For example, a teacher who begins experimenting with cooperative learning strategies would start depending more on group projects and presentations for assessment information. The nature of the grading components being used may need to change, as would any grading practices that foster competition among learners.

In short, a teacher's grading practices are likely to evolve slowly over time as his or her grading philosophy changes, as experience in grading accumulates, and as a base of grading data from several classes becomes available. As the nature of the curriculum changes and teachers fine-tune or modify their instructional approaches, the procedures outlined here can be reviewed to adjust inconsistencies in philosophy and practice.

Purpose of the Study

Analyzing and scoring students' written responses to constructed- response (CR) assessment tasks are a complex process. Numerous factors can affect the scoring of student responses to such an assessment task. To improve the objectivity for scores from such assessments—and eventually to ensure test score validity, ongoing efforts are being made in minimizing raters' effects on scoring those assessment tasks in the measurement community. An extensive literature focuses on training raters to address the concerns of rating consistency and objectivity (Fitzpatrick, et al, 1998; Mashburn & Henry, 2004; Moon & Hughes, 2002; Schafer, et al, 2001). However, little attention has been given to investigating what factors may have influenced analyzing and scoring students' ...