PERFORMANCE GRADES AS MEASURES OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Jed Cockrell (Creator)
Institution
Appalachian State University (ASU )
Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
Advisor
George Olson

Abstract: Prior research exposes some long-held concerns about the grades teachers assign and what those grades mean (e.g., Starch, 1913; Steele, 1911). Despite an increased effort to improve assessment at the classroom level (e.g., Popham, 2009; Stiggins, 2001), many of the same concerns about the meaning of grades mentioned in earlier research continue to persist. Although previous research has examined relationships between students’ grades and standardized assessment scores (e.g., Brennan, Kim, Wenz-Gross & Siperstein, 2001; Ross & Kostuch, 2011), the relationship between grades and what teachers expect students to score on standardized assessments has not been examined. This study links students’ grades to both a teacher-expected EOG/EOC (end-of-grade and end-of-course) achievement level, and an actual EOG/EOC achievement level. Three years of data linking students’ performance grades, standardized assessment scores, and teacher-expected standardized assessment scores were examined. While correlations between students’ performance grades and standardized assessment scores were similar to those found in prior studies with respect to students’ ethnicity and gender, relationships between those two measures of student achievement and the marks reporting teacher-expected standardized assessment scores indicated that teachers underestimated differences between the performance grades they assigned to students and those students’ actual standardized assessment scores.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Cockrell, J. (2016). PERFORMANCE GRADES AS MEASURES OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
Language: English
Date: 2016
Keywords
Grades, Achievement, measures, Standardized assessment, Student performance

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