PART 5:
EVALUATION: EVALUATING STUDENT PERFORMANCE
Adapted
with permission from Farris, 1985
Most TAs have some responsibility for grading student
performance (weekly quizzes or essays, mid-term or final
examinations, lab reports or term papers) and those with
considerable autonomy often assign final semester grades as
well. It is important, then, that you develop a sense of
academic standards as quickly as possible, explain them
clearly at the beginning of the course, and apply them
consistently throughout the semester. However, as you know
from your experience as a student, grading practices vary
considerably from one instructor to the next.
It will probably take a semester for you to strike a
comfortable balance between the "I'm tough—learn because
you respect me" and the "I'm compassionate—learn because
you love me" extremes of motivating students. Regardless of
the approach you take, students will not respect you or
your standards unless you provide them with the means to
meet your expectations.
DETERMINING
EVALUATIVE CRITERIA
Adapted
with permission from Farris, 1985
Students are very sensitive to grades and to the criteria
on which the grades are based: "Will this be on the test?
How much does the quiz count toward the final grade? Do you
consider attendance and participation?" Grading is a
thankless job but somebody has to do it, and you may as
well be prepared to answer these questions on the first day
of class; that means, of course, that you must have
answered them for yourself well in advance.
Before constructing an exam or assignment, you need to
decide exactly what it is you expect your students to
demonstrate that they have learned. Reviewing the
instructional objectives you established at the beginning
of the term may be a good way to begin. The first step is
to think carefully about the goals which you (or the
professor teaching the course) have set for the students.
Should students have mastered basic terminology and working
principles? Should they have developed a broad
understanding of the subject? Should they be able to use
the principles and concepts taught in the course to solve
problems in the field? The next question is how you can
best evaluate the extent to which students have achieved
these goals.
Perhaps a certain type of test will suggest itself
immediately (e.g. multiple choice, matching, fill in the
blanks, short answer, problem solving, or essay). If you
know what you want to assess and why, then writing the
actual questions will be much less frustrating.
TEST CONSTRUCTION
Objective
Tests
Although by definition no test can be truly "objective"
(existing as an object of fact, independent of the mind),
an objective test in this handbook refers to a test made up
of multiple choice, matching, fill-in, true/false, or short
answer items. Objective tests have the advantages of
allowing an instructor to assess a large and potentially
representative sample of course material and of allowing
for reliable and efficient test scoring. The disadvantages
of objective tests include a tendency to emphasize only
"recognition" skills, the ease with which correct answers
can be guessed on many item types, and the inability to
measure students' organization and synthesis of material.
(adapted with permission from Yonge, 1977)
Since the practical arguments for giving objective exams
are compelling, we offer a few suggestions for writing
multiple choice items. The first suggestion is to avoid
this testing style if you can. If it is unavoidable, there
are numerous ways of generating objective test items. Many
textbooks are accompanied by teachers' manuals containing
collections of items, and your professor or former teachers
of the same course may be willing to share items with you.
In either case, however, the general rule is adapt rather
than adopt. Existing items will rarely fit your specific
needs, so you should tailor them to reflect more adequately
your objectives.
Second, design multiple choice items so that students who
know the subject or material adequately are more likely to
choose the correct alternative and students with less
adequate knowledge are more likely to choose a wrong
alternative. That sounds simple enough, but you want to
avoid writing items which lead students to choose the right
answer for the wrong reasons. For instance, avoid making
the correct alternative the longest or most qualified one,
or the only one that is grammatically appropriate to the
stem. Even a careless shift in tense or verb-subject
agreement can often suggest the correct answer.
Finally, it is very easy to disregard the above advice and
slip into writing items which require only rote recall but
are nonetheless difficult because they are taken from
obscure passages (footnotes, for instance). Some items
requiring only recall might be appropriate, but try to
design most of the items to tap the students' understanding
of the subject. (adapted with permission from Farris, 1985)
Here are a few additional guidelines to keep in mind when
writing multiple choice tests (adapted with permission from
Yonge, 1977):
• the item-stem (the lead-in to the choices) should clearly
formulate a problem
• as much of the question as possible should be included in
the stem
• randomize occurrence of the correct response (i.e., you
don't always want "C" to be the right answer.
• make sure there is only one clearly correct answer
(unless you are instructing students to select more than
one)
• make the wording in the response choices consistent with
the item stem
• don't load the stem down with irrelevant material
• beware of using answers such as "none of these" or "all
of the above"
• use negatives or double negatives sparingly in the
question or stem
Essay Tests
Conventional
wisdom accurately portrays short answer and essay
examinations as the easiest to write and the most difficult
to grade, particularly if they are graded well. However,
essay items are also considered the most effective means of
assessing students' mastery of a subject. If it is crucial
that students understand a particular concept, you can
force them to respond to a single question, but you might
consider asking them to write on one or two of several
options. TAs generally expect a great deal from students,
but remember that their mastery of a subject depends as
much on prior preparation and experience as it does on
diligence and intelligence; even at the end of the semester
some students will be struggling to understand the
material.
Design your questions so that all students can answer at
their own levels. (adapted with permission from Farris,
1985)
The following are some suggestions which may enhance the
quality of the essay tests that you produce (adapted with
permission from Ronkowski, 1986):
• Keep in mind the processes that you want measured (e.g.,
analysis, synthesis).
• Start questions with words such as "compare," "contrast,"
"explain why". Don't use "what," "who," "when," or "list".
(These latter types are better measured with objective-type
items.)
• Write items that define the parameters of expected
answers as clearly as possible.
• Don't have too many possible answers for the time
available.
GRADING
Reading
50 papers or 200 essay exams presents special problems,
especially when all 50 or 200 are responses to the same
topic or question. How do you maintain consistency? You are
more likely to be thorough with the first few papers you
read than with the rest and less likely to be careful with
the comments when you are tired. To avoid such problems,
read five or six papers before you start grading to get an
idea of the range of quality (some instructors rank-order
the papers in groups before they assign grades), and stop
grading when you get tired, irritable, or bored. When you
start again, read over the last couple of papers you graded
to make sure you were fair. Some instructors select "range
finder" papers—middle range A, B, C and D papers to which
they refer for comparison.
Depending upon the number of students you have, you may
have to spend anywhere from five to twenty minutes on a
three- to four-page paper. Try to select only the most
insightful passages for praise and only the most shallow
responses or repeated errors for comment; in others words,
don't turn a neatly typed paper into a case of the measles.
Avoid the tendency of new TAs to edit the paper for the
student. Remember, also, that if you comment on and correct
everything, a student loses a sense of where priorities
lie. Do not give the impression that semicolons are as
important to good writing and to a grade as, say, adequate
support for an argument. (adapted with permission from
Farris, 1968)
In assigning grades to essay questions you may want to use
one of the following methods (adapted with permission from
Cashin, 1987):
• Analytic (point-score) Method: In this method the ideal
or model answer is broken down into several specific points
regarding content. A specific subtotal point value is
assigned to each. When reading the exam, you need to decide
how much of each maximum subtotal you judge the student's
answer to have earned. When using this method be sure to
outline the model (ideal or acceptable) answer BEFORE you
begin to read the essays.
• Global (holistic) Method: In this method the rater reads
the entire essay and makes an overall judgment about how
successfully the student has covered everything that was
expected in the answer and assigns the paper to a category
(grade). Generally, five to nine categories are sufficient.
Ideally, all of the essays should be read quickly and
sorted into five to nine piles, then each pile reread to
check that every essay has been accurately (fairly)
assigned to that pile which will be given a specific score
or letter grade.
Grading of multiple choice exams can be done by hand or
through the use of computer answer sheets available through
your department. If you choose the computer grading route
you must be sure to provide number 2 pencils for students
to mark answers on their sheets. These are usually
available from your department's main office. At the time
of the exam it is helpful to write on the chalkboard all
pertinent information required on the answer sheet (course
name, course number, section number, instructor's name,
etc.). Also remind students to fill in their university
identification numbers completely to ensure that their
answers will be properly graded by the computer.
RECORDS AND
DISTRIBUTION OF GRADES
Procedures
for grading and the distribution of grades to students will
most likely be negotiated with the professor teaching the
course. Many will have established procedures for the
distribution of grades, while others may leave it up to
you. When posting grades in any kind of public area
(outside your or the professor's office, for example) be
sure that students' names are not visible on the grade
sheets. Grades should be recorded by ID number rather than
by name. If the exams have been computer graded, the
printout you receive will include a sheet with ID numbers
and grades only, which is suitable for posting. Another
method is to record grades on the attendance roster,
photocopy it, and then clip out the section of names on the
sheet, leaving only ID numbers and grades.
Handing back papers or essays to a large class can be a
very time-consuming task.
Some instructors deal with this by leaving time at the end
of class to hand back assignments or tests, or they may ask
students to come to their office to pick up papers. The
latter alternative provides an opportunity for students to
get more personal feedback from you about their papers.
THE UNIVERSITY
GRADING SYSTEM
This
table shows letter grades and their corresponding grade
point equivalents. For further information and elaboration
of grading policies in your department, consult with your
supervising faculty member.
A = 4.0
AB = 3.5
B = 3.0
BC = 2.5
C = 2.0
CD = 1.5
D = 1.0
F = 0.0
I = Incomplete
W = Withdrawn
P = Passed