Components of contemporary college grade meanings

Pollio, Howard R.; Humphreys, W. Lee; Milton, Ohmer

doi:10.1016/0361-476x(89)90007-6

Cited by 5 publications

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“…Questionnaire results reveal that grades are valued by students, their parents, and others as symbols of much more than test results or academic attainment. Pollio, Humphreys, and Milton (1987) found that these groups believe that grades reflect such personal traits as psychological adjustment, the ability to work in a system, intelligence, self-discipline, and personal motivation. If these connotations are not enough to indicate how significant grades are to all players in the grading game, it is also clear that important extracollegiate decisions are made on the basis of grades.…”

Section: Common Knowledge About Gradesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As might be expected, how frequently parents react to both good and bad grades changes from elementary school through college. What may be surprising, however, is that reactions to grades show little or no association with good grades, and that certain reactions to bad grades actually show a negative relationship Pollio, Humphreys, and Milton, 1987). There are complex problems involved in providing an unequivocal (or any) interpretation for the negative correlations observed between parental reactions and grades.…”

Section: Uncommon Knowledge About Gradesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Grading students

Pollio

Humphreys

1988

New Drctns for Teach & Learn

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Section: Common Knowledge About Gradesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Uncommon Knowledge About Gradesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grading students

Pollio

Humphreys

1988

New Drctns for Teach & Learn

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Patterns of parental reaction to student grades

1991

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Abstract. Factor analysis of questionnaire responses produced by over 6,000 individuals revealed parental reactions to good and bad grades grouped themselves into five categories: (1) Grades are important to me; bad ones lead to negative consequences; (2) Good grades are important to me, but I will support you regardless of grade; (3) Bad grades make me mad; (4) Do your best, but there is more to life than grades; and (5) Grades are important; you will know how I feel on the basis of a joking comment. When these patterns were related to reports of specific student actions in college, such as getting good grades, dropping a course, or cheating on an examination, results indicated only a few significant negative correlations, and only for students whose parents reacted to bad grades in a negative emotional way; i.e., in terms of categories I and 3. More benign reactions -categories 2, 4, and 5 -did not correlate either positively or negatively with student actions or grades. Results were taken to suggest that parental reactions to grades are not only attempts at changing student behavior but also may be viewed as emotional responses expressing personal needs and values.How do parents react to the grades received by their children from elementary school through college? Despite the fact that countless millions of grades have been received by students at all levels of the educational enterprise, little is known on either an empirical or theoretical basis as to the various ways in which parents react to them. For this reason, Milton, Pollio, and Eison (1986), in a national survey of grade meanings, devoted two major and a number of minor sets of questions to this issue. On the basis of a descriptive analysis of results, they reported that parents valued grades more strongly than any other group sampled (faculty, students, and business officials) and tended to view them as addressed more to them than to any other group except students. When specific parental actions were described by both the parent and his/her college age child, modest agreement for reactions to good grades and lower agreement for reactions to bad ones were found, although both groups did agree that parents tended to praise students for good grades and to ask for an explanation for bad ones.Additional analyses by Milton et al., (1986) concerned changes in parental actions from elementary school through college. Here, results indicated that some parental responses to good grades (e.g., being proud) increased from elementary school to high school and then decreased during college; some (providing monetary rewards) showed a decrease over all levels; and some ('what is important is that you try to do your best,') showed a progressive increase over level. Similar changes occurred in response to bad grades, with reactions such as 'asked for an explanation' increasing from elementary school to high school and then decreasing at college. Reactions such as 'do your best' showed an increase across all levels while reactions such as 'helped me study afterwards' ...

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Attitudes toward Grades among Advertising Majors

Umphrey

Fullerton

2004

Journal of Advertising Education

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Components of contemporary college grade meanings

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

Grading students

Grading students

Patterns of parental reaction to student grades

Attitudes toward Grades among Advertising Majors

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