Specifications Grading in Political Science

Blackstone, Bethany; Oldmixon, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.1080/15512169.2018.1447948

“…Faculty beginning with specifications grading may benefit from its widely documented use in courses such as an undergraduate dietetics (Pope et al, 2020), technical writing in computer science (Mirsky, 2018), organic chemistry (Ring, 2017), engineering (Mendez, 2018a), thermodynamics (Mendez, 2018b), various mathematics courses (Carlisle, 2020;Prasad, 2020;Williams, 2018), political science (Blackstone & Oldmixon, 2019), counselor education (Bonner, 2016), STEM (Tsoi, Anzovino, Erickson, Forringer, & Henary, 2019), and literacy (Shields, Denlinger, & Webb, 2019). While Nilson (2015) suggested a major benefit of specifications grading was reducing the time faculty spend on grading, an advantage confirmed by Mendez (2018b), Mirsky, (2018 and Williams (2018), others have disagreed.…”

Section: S Pecific Ations G R Adingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Shields et al (2019) did not experience a decrease in grading workload; however, the time spent on grading was more meaningful and less likely to create disagreements from students. When redesigning a course to incorporate specifications grading, faculty should be prepared to deeply reflect on their course objectives and assessments, a process Blackstone and Oldmixon (2019) found to be overall beneficial in their interactions with students about their grades.…”

Section: S Pecific Ations G R Adingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Students have also weighed in on the pros and cons of specifications grading. In particular, students appreciate the opportunity to self-regulate in working toward their desired grade based upon the specifications of the course (Blackstone & Oldmixon, 2019;Pope et al, 2020;Williams, 2018). Furthermore, students relish increased feedback from their instructors and the enhanced transparent alignment between course objectives, assignments, and learning activities (Pope et al, 2020;Shields et al, 2019).…”

Section: S Pecific Ations G R Adingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alternative grading practices: An entry point for faculty in competency‐based education

Townsley

¹

,

Schmid

²

2020

J of Competency-Based Ed

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Due to a lack of buy‐in from multiple stakeholder groups, institutions of higher learning may struggle to reorient their entire course and program offerings to embrace the full breadth of competency‐based education. One such way of overcoming these systematic issues to make incremental progress toward competency‐based education is to consider practices such as grading that single professors can implement without the need of full institutional support. Few college instructors are likely to have received any formal grading training. As such, they may rely on institutional norms and their personal experiences as students. In response to historical grading challenges in higher education, some faculty members have adopted models working against the status quo such as mastery grading, specifications grading, and standards‐based grading, which all promote students demonstrating their learning on criterion‐referenced tests in a more flexible time frame. The purpose of this paper is to describe alternative forms of grading as an entry point for faculty incrementally progressing toward competency‐based education axioms in higher education. The authors recommend a multiple‐step course design framework and areas for future research.

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“…We were inspired by Blackstone et al's token system, and used it as a model for our own. 23 Under the specifications grading system, we defined four components of the laboratory practical exam. The first three components -a safety final, a knowledge check final, and a technique finalrepresent the core competencies a student needed to demonstrate to pass the course and were required to earn a C-level or higher grade (Figure 1).…”

Section: ▢ ▢mentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing and Implementing a Specifications Grading System in an Organic Chemistry Laboratory Course

Howitz¹,

McKnelly²,

Link

³

2020

Preprint

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<p>Large, multi-section laboratory courses are particularly challenging when managing grading with as many as 35 teaching assistants (TAs). Traditional grading systems using point-based rubrics lead to significant variations in how individual TAs grade, which necessitates the use of curving across laboratory sections. Final grade uncertainty perpetuates student anxieties and disincentivizes a collaborative learning environment, so we adopted an alternative grading system, called specifications grading. In this system each student knows exactly what level of proficiency they must demonstrate to earn their desired course grade. Higher grades require demonstrating mastery of skills and content at defined higher levels. Each students’ grade is solely dependent on the work they produce rather than the performance of other students. We piloted specifications grading in the smaller, third quarter course of the lower division organic chemistry laboratory series held during a summer term. Open-ended questions were chosen to gather student and TA perceptions of the new grading system. TAs felt that the new grading system reduced the weekly grading time because it was less ambiguous. Responses from students about the nature of the grading system were mixed. Their perceptions indicate that initial buy-in and multiple reminders about the bigger picture of the grading system will be essential to the success of this grading system on a larger scale.</p>

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“…Specifications grading evolved from three previous grading systems: mastery learning, competencybased grading, and contract grading, and has been adopted in a variety of college-level courses. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Mastery learning, coined by Benjamin Bloom in 1968, requires that students meet an instructor's established performance standards on one course topic before advancing to subsequent topics. 23 To meet students' individual learning needs, Bloom advocated for variation in teaching methods and flexibility in time allotted for students to complete course topics.…”

Section: Evolution Of Alternative Grading Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing and Implementing a Specifications Grading System in an Organic Chemistry Laboratory Course

Howitz¹,

McKnelly²,

Link

³

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

<p>Large, multi-section laboratory courses are particularly challenging when managing grading with as many as 35 teaching assistants (TAs). Traditional grading systems using point-based rubrics lead to significant variations in how individual TAs grade, which necessitates the use of curving across laboratory sections. Final grade uncertainty perpetuates student anxieties and disincentivizes a collaborative learning environment, so we adopted an alternative grading system, called specifications grading. In this system each student knows exactly what level of proficiency they must demonstrate to earn their desired course grade. Higher grades require demonstrating mastery of skills and content at defined higher levels. Each students’ grade is solely dependent on the work they produce rather than the performance of other students. We piloted specifications grading in the smaller, third quarter course of the lower division organic chemistry laboratory series held during a summer term. Open-ended questions were chosen to gather student and TA perceptions of the new grading system. TAs felt that the new grading system reduced the weekly grading time because it was less ambiguous. Responses from students about the nature of the grading system were mixed. Their perceptions indicate that initial buy-in and multiple reminders about the bigger picture of the grading system will be essential to the success of this grading system on a larger scale.</p>

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Specifications Grading in Political Science

Cited by 21 publications

References 6 publications

Alternative grading practices: An entry point for faculty in competency‐based education

Alternative grading practices: An entry point for faculty in competency‐based education

Developing and Implementing a Specifications Grading System in an Organic Chemistry Laboratory Course

Developing and Implementing a Specifications Grading System in an Organic Chemistry Laboratory Course

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