Examining classroom grades as complex communication

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20196341

For the past one hundred years or more, educational specialists have been admonishing classroom teachers to standardize their grading practices but have met little success. Most research into classroom grading practices indicates that both teachers and students are comfortable with the current system of "hodge-podge" methods of grade construction. Many researchers view teachers as resistant to changes in grading construction due to a lack of assessment education. However, other studies of teacher attitudes toward grading suggest that teachers view grading as complex and relational. This polar case study research investigated the construction and interpretation of grades as a form of complex communication. The findings suggest that although assessment researchers often view grading as a simple process, the teacher in this study viewed grading as a highly subjective and complicated procedure, deeply connected to her view of herself as a teacher. The implications of the case study are for further mixed-methods studies that would quantitatively examine educational measurement specialists' recommended practices alongside qualitative studies that examined how the communicative properties of grading were impacted by new grading practices.