Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Special Issue Call for Papers: Research on grading - past, present, and future
Guest editors
Prof. Henning Fjørtoft
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
henning.fjortoft@ntnu.no
Prof. Lise Vikan Sandvik
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
lise.sandvik@ntnu.no
Prof. Anders Jönsson
Kristianstad University, Sweden
anders.jonsson@hkr.se
Prof. Annemette Kjærgaard
Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
amk.msc@cbs.dk
In assessment systems across the world, grades have been an important measure of educational success. Grades are symbols assigned to individual examples of student work or symbols denoting aggregated performance in a course or study programme (McEntarffer, 2022; Wiliam et al., 2023). Traditionally, a major theme in research on grades and grading has been the reliability and validity of teachers’ grades (Brookhart et al., 2016). However, the use of grades has also been criticised for the impact it has on students (e.g., Teaf, 1964), with special attention paid to potential negative effects on students’ motivation, performance, and attitudes (Butler & Nisan, 1986).
The emphasis on teachers’ ability to use assessments for formative purposes has led to considerable changes in conceptions of teachers’ assessment literacy since the early 1990s (DeLuca et al., 2016; Xu & Brown, 2016). This development, along with an interest in issues related to fairness and equity in assessment, has in turn led to grading being seen as part of a complex process that involves technical and psychometric matters, as well as social, cultural, and ethical factors (Pasquini & Deluca, 2021). Some researchers have argued that the relation between grades, feedback, and motivation is complex, with varying impact across age levels (Koenka et al., 2021). Others have indicated that, although feedback is generally considered an effective alternative to grading, there are multiple models and taxonomies outlining the nature of its application (Panadero & Lipnevich, 2022). Therefore, teachers’ responsibilities for enacting formative assessment through feedback and summative assessment through grading are characterised by a plethora of dilemmas.
There is also an increasing interest in alternative assessment practices, where educators reduce the use of grades or remove them entirely (e.g., ungrading, Blum, 2020; going gradeless, Kjærgaard et al., 2022; McMorran & Ragupathi, 2020). Such approaches typically involve replacing grades with feedback or pass/fail-systems; however, the rationales for reducing or replacing grades with alternative approaches vary substantially; furthermore, such practices have shown ambivalent results that raise new questions and concerns regarding grading practices (Normann et al., 2023). Nevertheless, several assessment researchers maintain the need for grading in comprehensive and balanced assessment systems, arguing that grades serve an important purpose in summarising student progress in relation to learning goals, as evidenced by the collection of student assignments or teacher observations (Wiliam et al., 2023).
The aim of this special issue is to bring different perspectives on grades and grading together in order to further our understanding of grades and grading as a multifaceted and socio-culturally situated phenomenon. We welcome both conceptual and empirical research on grades and grading, and we encourage research from a range of contexts, perspectives, and methodological approaches, including critical perspectives. We encourage contributions that address the role of grades in education as well as alternatives to existing practice. We also hope to see contributions that problematise or question the relationship between grades and learning processes, in particular with the aim of exploring learning processes and outcomes without grades.
The proposed special issue will explore the meaning and value of grades and grading across contexts. Key questions include:
● Grading as part of teachers’ assessment practice
● The sociocultural role of grades and grading in education
● The purpose and use of grades
● Validity, reliability, and fairness in grading
● Manageability and workload in grading practices
● Teacher beliefs about grades and grading
● Student perspectives on grades and grading
● Historical perspectives on grades and their role in education systems
● The impact of technology on grading, including artificial intelligence and other recent developments
● Comparative views on grades and grading, including those outside the Global North/Western societies
● Diversity, equity and inclusion issues in grading
● Alternative approaches to grading including the movement towards ungrading/going gradeless in education
Timeline
Abstract deadline September 1st, 2024
First feedback from editorial team October 1st, 2024
Full paper deadline February 1st, 2025
Peer review during February-March, 2025
Deadline for revised versions June 15th, 2025
Publication immediately after acceptance
Full issue published in November, 2025
References
Blum, S. D. (2020). Why ungrade? Why grade? In S. D. Blum (Ed.), Ungrading: Why rating students undermines learning (and what to do instead) (1st ed.). West Virginia University Press.
Butler, R., & Nisan, M. (1986). Effects of no feedback, task-related comments, and grades on intrinsic motivation and performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78(3), 210–216. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.78.3.210
DeLuca, C., LaPointe-McEwan, D., & Luhanga, U. (2016). Teacher assessment literacy: A review of international standards and measures. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 28(3), 251–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-015-9233-6
Kjærgaard, A., Mikkelsen, E. N., & Buhl-Wiggers, J. (2022). The gradeless paradox: Emancipatory promises but ambivalent effects of gradeless learning in business and management education. Management Learning, 13505076221101146. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076221101146
Koenka, A. C., Linnenbrink-Garcia, L., Moshontz, H., Atkinson, K. M., Sanchez, C. E., & Cooper, H. (2021). A meta-analysis on the impact of grades and comments on academic motivation and achievement: A case for written feedback. Educational Psychology, 41(7), 922–947. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2019.1659939
McEntarffer, R. (2022). Grading. In Grading. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781138609877-REE34-1
McMorran, C., & Ragupathi, K. (2020). The promise and pitfalls of gradeless learning: Responses to an alternative approach to grading. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(7), Article 7. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2019.1619073
Normann, D.-A., Sandvik, L. V., & Fjørtoft, H. (2023). Reduced grading in assessment: A scoping review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 135, 104336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104336
Panadero, E., & Lipnevich, A. A. (2022). A review of feedback models and typologies: Towards an integrative model of feedback elements. Educational Research Review, 35, 100416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2021.100416
Pasquini, R., & Deluca, C. (2021). Grading in a dilemmatic space: An exploratory cross-cultural analysis of Mathematics and Language Secondary teachers. Comparative and International Education/Éducation comparée et internationale, 49(2), 51-70. https://doi.org/10.5206/cieeci.v50i1.14133
Teaf, H. M. (1964). What Price Grades? The Journal of Higher Education, 35(2), 100. https://doi.org/10.2307/1979787
Wiliam, D., Brookhart, S., Guskey, T., & McTighe, J. (2023). Grading in a comprehensive and balanced assessment system. https://www.creatingrounds.com/uploads/9/6/2/4/96240662/grading__wiliam_brookhart_et_al.pdf
Xu, Y., & Brown, G. T. L. (2016). Teacher assessment literacy in practice: A reconceptualization. Teaching and Teacher Education, 58, 149–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2016.05.010