- A clear list of objectives or specifications: Students have access to a list of objectives that clearly describe the important goals, types of problems, etc. in the class, or specifications that describe the characteristics of a successful submission for each assignment.
- Assessment for mastery, not points: Student work is evaluated for mastery of specific objectives or for fully meeting specifications, typically using a binary scale such as “demonstrates mastery” or “not yet”.
- Eventual mastery matters: Students have (or may earn) multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery of each objective or specification and are not penalized for failing to demonstrate mastery on previous attempts. Students typically have opportunities to revise or reattempt their work with complete forgiveness (online).
Ideally, students will have opportunities to demonstrate mastery in a variety of forms. These may include assessments that are timed or untimed, in-class or out-of-class, short quizzes or semester-long portfolios, etc. There are a few types of grading systems that can be defined as Mastery Grading Systems. They include:
-
Mastery-Based Testing (MBT): MBT is a mastery grading style that focuses on tests or exams. These courses typically have 10–20 content-based objectives. In such a course, exams consist of one question per objective, possibly with multiple parts, and each question is graded for mastery of that objective.
-
Standards-Based Grading (SBG): SBG refers to a broad category of mastery grading systems with the common theme that a student’s final grade is based entirely, or almost entirely, on demonstrating mastery of a list of objectives.
-
Specifications Grading (Specs): For each assignment, the instructor provides a specific description (“specification”) of what a successful submission will include. Students have (or may earn) multiple opportunities to revise assignments or reattempt them in order to meet the specifications. This system can be used for some or all assignments in a course. See; https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/17573382
-
If you are new to Mastery Grading, pick one of the following and read it.
-
If you have some experience or knowledge of mastery grading already? Pick one of the following and read it.
-
J. Schinske and K. Tanner, “Teaching more by grading less (or differently)”
-
Read one of the articles from the recent special issue of PRIMUS (Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies) on mastery grading
-
-
Finally, think about and jot down some thoughts on these questions:
-
What’s the purpose of grades and grading?
-
Do grades measure what we want them to measure? (For statistics lovers: What kind of data are grades, especially points: Qualitative or quantitative? Nominal? Ordinal? Interval? Ratio?)
-
What messages (implicit and explicit) do we tell students about grades and the grading process?
-
What would you like to change about your current grading process? Why do you want to change those parts?
-
–
Leave a Reply