©2015 Edward White

The Horrors of Grading: A UVic TA Survival Guide

by

Edward White, MISt., MA edwardw@uvic.ca

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©2015 Edward White

Introduction

One of the conundrums of being a Teaching Assistant (TA) at a college or university is the requirement of marking student's assignments, but usually doing so with little or no training in the process. As a new grad student you’ll often simply meet with an instructor who hands you a stack of assignments and simply expects you to know how to mark fairly and quickly. My own experience is that very few faculty members will mentor you through the processes of efficient and consistent evaluation1, and so I hope this guide might prepare you for the tasks ahead.2

There are no hard-and-fast rules about the best ways to grade.3 In fact, how you grade depends a great deal on your values, assumptions, and educational philosophy: if you view introductory courses as "weeder" classes – to separate out students who lack potential for future success in the field – you are likely to take a different grading approach than someone who views introductory courses as teaching important skills that all students need to master. If you've never made these values explicit, when you begin grading for the first time, they will undoubtedly arise. Being aware of how you view undergraduates, the program, and your role as a Teaching Assistant are the first steps to developing your own consistent grading strategies.

If you devise clear guidelines from which to assess performance, you will find the grading process more efficient, and the essential function of grades– communicating the student's level of knowledge – will be easier. Further, if you grade carefully and consistently, against clear standards, you can reduce the number of students who complain and ask you to defend a grade.

THE BASICS YOUR ROLE

The professor in charge of a course has final responsibility for assigning grades. TAs typically participate in the grading of exams, homework, papers, and other student work. The TA should have adequate supervision regarding standards for grading, the sorts of comments that would be helpful, and so on. However, the instructor should play at least a supervisory role in determining final grades, as well as grades for major milestones in the course. Since you are not the final authority on course matters, any issues that you do not know how to deal with should be referred to the professor.

On the other hand, you will likely interact with some of the students and be expected to answer reasonable questions without having to refer them to the professor. Use common sense and remember to document your decisions. If in doubt, discuss the situation with the departmental TAC4 or the graduate adviser (if your professor is unavailable).

1 Arguably this is because most faculty members themselves had no training in assessment or pedagogy, and have simply learned how to mark through sheer repetition, belligerence, or as a result of feudal indenture to their supervisors. Do not be surprised if there is no clear reasoning behind particular methods of assessment other than, “We’ve always done it this way…”, and thus no clear instruction on evaluation. 2 My apologies in advance for the unblemished cynicism that follows. 3 Actually that’s not strictly true – the basics should be: 1) be fair – mark against a clear standard (i.e. a rubric that is shared with students); 2) be consistent – apply all the policies and procedures equally (exceptions will come to haunt you); 3) be impartial – we’re here to train scholars, not ideologues. Evaluate the critical thinking, logic, evidence, and knowledge of a student from as neutral a standpoint as you can manage. 4 Teaching Assistant Consultant – the senior TA in the department in charge of training and mentorship.

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TIME

Time spent on grading is usually unequal and varied - bursts of grading work as assignments come in, the work of which depends on the questions asked and the variety of answers given.

• Types of marking may include response papers, group assignments, quizzes/tests/exams (multiple choice, short answer, essay), reflective papers and essays (research, comparative, etc.). Materials to be marked will vary from class to class, so be certain you have a copy of the syllabus and understand the assignments beforehand.

• Always make note of when assignments are due throughout the term and when you're likely to be marking intensively. Add these dates to your own academic calendar and set aside reasonable hours to do the work in. This will allow you to coordinate your own academic schedule with your TA responsibilities. It has the added benefit of making certain you are not unpleasantly surprised when a stack of work is handed over (which always occurs at inconvenient times otherwise).

• The professor should give you a reasonable amount of time in which to mark and return assignments (or post grades). A week is normal, but it can be shorter or longer depending on the professor. This is an aspect of your TA work for a faculty member you should clarify from the beginning (so that the expectations do not change half-way through the term) and do not be pressured into returning grading in unreasonable time. Fair marking requires solid and consistent effort and requires ethical integrity as part of the student-teacher relationship. If a professor wants to cut corners, return the work to them.

• If you think you're being asked to work too much/too hard in too little time, have a word with your union representative and the graduate adviser. We have CUPE agreements for a reason, so learn your rights and responsibilities (and keep in mind that a TA position is not indentured servitude). The TA union is CUPE 4163 and section 14 of the collective agreement deals with hours of work (14.02):

(b) Employees registered in an academic degree program will normally be limited to a maximum of fourteen (14) hours of work per week on average over the term of appointment. (c) Employees registered in an academic degree program will not be required to work in excess of twenty-one (21) hours in a given work week (excluding self-scheduled work) without their agreement. The Union must be notified in such cases.

• Because you have a limited number of hours in which to accomplish your assigned tasks,

remember to keep a record of all hours you work, including meetings, email, office hours and time spent. Inform the instructor as you pass the 25%, 50%, 75% of hours mark.

• If you're required to make rubrics or grading keys, or if you find certain aspects of the role are taking more time than strictly necessary, talk to your professor about how to streamline some of the process. If you are close to running out of hours before the course/term has ended, make sure to speak to the professor and alert them to the situation. TA's can be granted more hours, but do not leave this to the last minute.

• Learn to say ‘no’. This is a really difficult thing to do, especially if the course instructor is a committee member or your thesis/dissertation supervisor, but your work must ALWAYS come first. If you can’t meet the deadline for marking, say so and then negotiate a deadline that works for both of you. Very little in grad school is actually set in stone, so be prepared to

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defend your priorities when need be. RUBRICS/KEYS

• A professor may provide you with a rubric or a grading key, but they are not required to. If you have to construct a rubric/grading key, first look at the assignment and figure out what it's testing and how it does so.

• You can look at sample rubrics (see page 17) if you're struggling for a format, or you can rely on departmental grading guidelines.

• When deciding on a key, make sure you’re clear on whether there are many “right” answers or just a single one. Consider whether students' demonstration of the idea is enough to warrant a partial grade or not.

• If you do construct your own rubric/key, make certain to run it by the professor before you use it, so that they can offer input and possibly adjust your weighting.

• Avoid grading systems that put students in competition with their classmates and limit the number of high grades. These systems, such as grading on the curve, produces undesirable consequences for many students, such as reduced motivation to learn, debilitating evaluation anxiety, a sense of grade inflation and unfairness in evaluation.

• If you have the opportunity, share your rubric with students before they hand in their assignments – it may help to clarify your expectations and reduce the gibberish.

• Why use a rubric/key • less subjective • ensure fairness • provide justification for differences in grades to students

• If you do construct your own rubric for an assignment, begin by taking apart the requirements of that assignment:

• What does it seek to test the students on and how does it evaluate their knowledge? • What major concepts must they employ and how? • Which are the most important concepts and which are minor facets?

• As you understand what the assignment seeks, you can weight particular requirements in terms of grading. If writing ability is part of the test, break the rubric into content and structure. The structure portion should contain all the required mechanical elements of the assignment (and you'll probably want to include the very basic things like font, margins, spacing, etc.), while the content is devoted solely to how they demonstrate their knowledge. For the latter, I find Bloom's Taxonomy the best way of judging different levels of comprehension (see page 13 for an overview).

• Weighting a rubric is often a difficult, so start by giving 50% of marks to the structure and 50% to the content. As the difficulty of the course increases and better writing is expected, lower the weighting given to structure (while still expecting students to maintain the standards set by the rubric) and raise the value of content. In the case of first-year courses where the writing skills are being taught (and we faintly hope they grasp the concepts), the inverse is true (structure 60-70%, content 40-30%). Always discuss the weighting of your rubric with your professor if possible.

• Try to use an “up to X marks” system when weighting the rubric. Students prefer to know exactly where they gain or lose points, but exact granulation of marks works against you (and

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students will contest every point) and reduces assignments to a simple rote formula. Instead of saying “12 point font is worth 1 mark”, say “consistent font size, standard margins, spacing, and essay structure are worth up to 5 marks”. This gives you some leeway in evaluation and encourages students to be critical of their own work.

THE BUSINESS

BASICS OF GOOD GRADING PRACTICES

• Valid – it should assess what the course sets out in objectives and learning outcomes and can include both knowledge and skills; the assessment methods should be clear to your students so that they know what is expected of them.

• Reliable and consistent – all assignments, for example, should be marked to the same standard – marks should not vary (within margins) because assignments were marked by different TA's.

• Fair – students should have an equal opportunity to succeed even if their experiences are not identical; it should also be seen to be fair by students. In some cases, it may be appropriate to discuss the grading standards and marking rubrics/assignment evaluation methods with students help you set criteria for fair assessment.

• Transparent – students should be able to understand your marking scheme and standards. • Equitable – vary the ways in which you perform your assessment so that you don’t favour

certain individuals or groups (different people learn differently). • Timely and incremental – do it periodically, not just at the end of the course or project. This

also gives students many opportunities to do well and to adjust their work to meet the course standards.

• Redeemable – there should be some opportunity for redemption (i.e. doing a project over again) if things go terribly wrong. This is often difficult at the university level, but a student who clearly did not understand an assignment should have some opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, even for reduced marks. Always discuss problem cases with the instructor.

• Formative – it should point out to students how they can improve – they should be able to learn from the experience (otherwise we're just punishing them needlessly).

GRADING METHODS

Short answers/quizzes/written assignments (less than 3 pages): • Method One: Grade one problem at a time for all papers. This is my preferred method because

it breaks the work up and allows me to concentrate only on one question at a time. • Method Two: Grade each paper from beginning to end sequentially. Tough, but not impossible

if you're really familiar with the subject matter.

• Method Three: Grade everyone's first page, then everyone's second page, then everyone's third page. It is much easier on your brain than doing one whole test at a time, but still requires a good grip on the subject matter or a very clear rubric.

• Method Four: Panic, mix methods, retreat to alcoholism.

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Which method works for you will depend on the conditions you set for grading and the format of the assignment. THE CRUCIAL METHOD TO SANITY: Mark out of 75%

It might not seem fair at first glance, but bear with me for a moment. One of the purposes of university is to train students to be better scholars, which means we’re not just looking for them to complete all the parameters of an assignment or exam, but to exceed them. If you mark out of 100%, you’ve the thorny problem of how to distinguish the good work from the truly exceptional (and often this is a matter of a 5-10% difference).

All too often we look at the requirements for a test or paper, and if the student meets those, we regard that as excellent work. However, merely meeting the requirements should only ever net a student a B+ (75%). As student whose work meets and goes beyond the requirements is demonstrating commitment to better scholarship and a better engagement with the material. Marking out of 75% allows you to clearly judge what should only be satisfactory and/or demonstrates a good grasp of the material. When a student’s work steps beyond the parameters (more insight, more references, argument and counter-evidence, etc.), then you can easily identify what sets it apart from the bulk of submissions.

If you use this method, be sure to communicate to students that you do so, and identify possible ways for them to ‘go beyond’ the requirements (but not limited to just those suggestions). We can teach students how to get a B, but an A only comes from their own initiative.

The only caveat to this method is the objective test (lab report/assignment/etc.), where the demonstration of knowledge requires only a correct procedure or process. If all you’re doing is asking for regurgitation of facts or ideas without scholarly engagement, then this method is unfair and the assignment should be marked out of 100%. MARKING EXAMS OR TESTS:

• Grade with a timer! Get yourself an egg timer or an electronic kitchen timer, set it for 10 minutes. Skim through the exam, make notes, and when the bell goes, write your final comments and assign a grade. Bulk marking requires efficiency, so set and abide by time limits.

• Scan the exams and sort into rough grade piles: Either use a good/average/poor system, or B/C/D, and then mark only from one pile at a time. I find if I mark papers from one giant pile I notice the differences in quality of work much, much more and my grading becomes more extreme as a result.

• To enhance consistency, mark one question at a time on all the exams, rather than marking

each exam beginning to end. If there are several people doing the marking, divide the exam questions among the markers, rather than having each person mark one stack of exams.

• Grade against a rubric, not against the best exam. Students aren’t being tested against one another’s knowledge, but on their engagement with the subject. Don’t use the best exam as your guide to ‘how this should look’.

• Be as familiar as possible with the subject matter being tested. Don't be embarrassed to ask the course professor what constitutes a correct answer to a particular exam question!

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• A marking scheme must be flexible. Students may submit unexpected but perfectly valid

responses to questions. Keep a written record of any adjustments to the marking scheme, to ensure that you consistently give the same credit for the same response. The exception to this is using a very strict rubric or scheme where exact answers are important.

• Scan several responses to a question before marking. It helps to get a general sense of where

the students are as a group, and you’ll also pick up on which are the most common issues that students struggle with.

• Marking is an extension of teaching. If time allows, make comments in the margins to show

students exactly where they have gone wrong, rather than just making "check-marks." Take the time to comment on exceptionally good or bad work.

• Shuffle the exams after marking one question for all the exams, before starting in on the next

question. This can help overcome the "fatigue factor" (you may become more harsh or more lenient as you get tired).

• Take breaks! Marking a huge pile of exams can be gruelling, so be sure to leave yourself

enough time so that you can afford to take a break when your mind begins to wander. ESSAYS AND LONGER ASSIGNMENTS:

• Scan the papers and sort into rough grade piles: As with exams, either use a good/average/poor system, or B/C/D, and then mark only from one pile at a time. If you know you're grading a specific pile, it's much simpler to separate out the pluses or minuses without comparing every paper to the best one overall.

• Grade with a timer: As above, but start by allowing yourself 15 minutes in which to mark an essay. Unless you like working for free, you have to limit the time you spend on each assignment. You’ll have a pretty good idea of where it should go after the first couple of pages, but give the work due consideration in the time allotted.

• Grade against a standard, not against the other papers: When you mark against the other

papers in a class, it's very easy to slip into a bell-curve of grading, where the best paper is an A and the worst an F. Marking against a standard (or rubric) reduces the subjectivity of marking, allows you to judge without fear of prejudice, and tends to speed up the process precisely because you're not trying to figure out why paper A is subtly better than paper B.

• Make positive comments on the left-hand margin of the paper and negative on the right margin: This helps to balance out the critique and provides students with not only reinforcement of good writing, but highlights areas where they need to improve. It's all too easy to fill a paper with negative commentary, which is very discouraging – so this helps to keep your commentary in proportion. If the work is so bad that you can't find something good to comment on, you probably need a one-on-one chat with the student. Even if you just make

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X's on one side to denote errors, and check marks to show good ideas, it's always good to try for some balance.

• Alternately, make comments on a post-it note or index card as you work through the paper, in which case you save your comments for a summation at the end, and only highlight the most serious issues/reinforce the best work within the paper itself. This is quite useful in lower-level undergraduate work where errors are rife. Again, a returned paper covered in commentary can be confusing whereas a paper that highlights the good/bad and provides a concise evaluation will probably produce better work. This also has the added benefit of letting you vent over poor work without leaving notes such as “This is fetid pig-swill!” in the margins.

• Read the whole paper, but correct and edit only one paragraph: You'll run out of time if you

correct every spelling, punctuation, and grammatical mistakes, illogical flows, etc. If you correct only 1-2 paragraphs the student will get an idea of how they need to improve and what common errors to look for. If you feel that you do need to point out the abundance of errors, correct a couple of paragraphs and then simply put an X next to a line that has a problem. If it looks like you'll fill the page with X's, it's time for one-on-one with a student.

• Make a list of synonyms for positive and negative commentary: After the 15th paper that

reads “Good overall” or “Interesting thesis” or “Acceptable but needs work” I tend to feel that I'm becoming too rote in my responses. Having a table of adjectives gives you another way to distinguish the good from the bad without being overly repetitive (and relieves some of the boredom). Keep the margin commentary concise but effective - “Poor citation” / “Good analysis” / “Confusing grammar” / “Work on flow” / etc. See the list of grading adjectives at the end of this guide. See the list on page 12 for examples.

• Less = more: If there's too much commentary in the margins, or you've tried to correct every

mistake, students will get confused and not know what they need to concentrate on doing better with future assignments. Select up to three things you'd want to see improved in the next assignment and put them under an obvious heading at the end of your commentary.

After

• Group feedback: Rather than addressing the shortcomings of each student's work, highlight the most common issues in the assignments as a class, and write a single page addressing those problems. Keep the problems anonymous and make recommendations on how students might fix these errors. Group feedback also allows you to be very selective in constructive criticism offered to individual students without focusing on the common errors. Email this to the class or hand out before the papers are returned to the class.

• Assignment discussion: Just as one should discuss the assignment beforehand, one may also discuss it afterwards. It's a good way to clear up lingering issues, it demonstrates your involvement in their work, and may encourage students to come to your office hours for help.

• Peer Review: Encourage students to form peer-review groups to check each other’s work, even

if it's just at the draft/outline stage. Schedule time outside of class hours for a review group

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and help lead them through to steps of proof-reading a paper. The more routine you can establish in the process of writing, the less work you face in the evaluation.

Oddities

• Strange papers: It’s likely that you’ll get assignments from time to time that are just plain odd. If you have one of these, either kick it up to the prof (let the powers that be deal with it), or return it to the student with a clarification of expectations and a firm deadline for re-submission.

HOW MUCH TIME TO SPEND GRADING:

Don’t have a grading marathon. If you grade and grade and grade, one of two things will happen: (1) your eyes will glaze over and you’ll stop thinking about what you’re doing, or (2) you will get really, really unhappy and will start grading unfairly. In the above example, perhaps grade 20 papers at a time, then move on to something else.

• Grading should be done in short blocks of time (<2hours).

• Longer periods of grading often result in burnout, harsher/laxer grading (depending on inclination), and development of grading phobias.

• Consider marking with other TA's, so that the pain can be shared, or breaking the task down

into manageable chunks that are part of your daily routine. MARKING EFFICIENTLY

• Grade in a pleasant place, free from distraction. I like to take the morning off and grade sitting on my couch sipping coffee or alone at a laid-back cafe. I do not like to grade in my office, on Saturdays at home, in meetings, or anywhere else. Why? Because even one, tiny distraction will force me to re-read at least part of the paper, which will make it take longer and be more frustrating. Additionally, if you make grading a semi-pleasant thing to do, it won’t be quite as painful.

• Set a time limit for each paper. So let’s imagine you have a stack of 100 papers, each 3-4 pages long, roughly on the same topic. You want to get them back in the next three days. Now, to really grade each paper carefully, you’re going to need 15 minutes or so. But 15*100 = 25 HOURS of grading. Argh, no thanks. You probably have other stuff to do. So what about 5 minutes per paper? Well that’s still 8 + hours of grading, but it’s certainly more manageable. Set a timer for each paper, or just look at the clock. I recommend using your time limit as an average, as some papers take longer than others.

• Record grades as you work, but make sure you double check your figures before you finish.

• In a hurry? If you’re really out of time, remember that you can make fewer comments on

better papers. A couple of positive and constructive comments is generally all you need. Be aware that the better the writing of the student, the more likely they want constructive

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feedback (and the more critical of lower grades they will be). Quick editing student’s work can also be set aside if need be – it’s their responsibility to identify poor grammar and spelling – so mention it, but move on.

• Don't agonize over the subtleties of each grade you assign – it's your job to be judgemental

(but fair). Either refer to your rubric when the decision is very close, or pass the work up to the professor for evaluation.

Keep in mind:

• Effective feedback acknowledges and reinforces the strengths of students' work; prompts students to recognize shortcomings and options; and provides suggestions for improving performance.

• Effective grading also provides feedback that helps students:

• Understand what "works" in their papers and essay tests. • Learn from their "mistakes". • Positions them to stretch further towards becoming better students in the future.

THE PITFALLS PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is an ongoing and serious concern in post-secondary classes, and should be dealt with fairly strictly. Some students will forget to cite and should be sternly reminded of the consequences, while others try to slip work that is not their own by you. Spotting the latter is usually fairly easy – look for sudden changes in tense, an unexpected elevation in sophistication of argument (that's out of keeping with the rest of the work), or even just a remarkably concise summation.

Checking for plagiarism can take time, though, so if you suspect one, put it in a pile to be graded later. Typically, plagiarized papers are pretty obvious, especially if scientific articles are used as the sources. When you get to them, your first line of defence is Google or Google scholar. Take the oddest phrase you can find and put it in quotes. If you assigned a particular paper or book, you can look through it to see if you detect plagiarism. You won’t catch everyone, though – just the most obvious.

When in doubt, send the paper to you professor, who can examine the work and make a final decision on it. Always discuss potential cases with the professor if possible – it's a very serious issue and is the faculty member's responsibility to resolve (not yours). OTHER POINTS OF NOTE

Set policies on late work. Will you refuse to accept any late work? Deduct points according to how late the work is submitted? Handle late work on a case-by-case basis?

Stress to students that grades reflect work on a specific task and are not judgements about people. Remind students that a teacher grades only a piece of paper. You might also let students know, if appropriate, that research shows that grades bear little or no relationship to measures of adult accomplishment.

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GRADING DISPUTES

Only discuss a student's grades in private. Be prepared to explain your grades by showing the student your criteria and keys. If a student wishes to appeal a grade, ask him or her to return the paper/exam in question so that you can review it. If the concern is a miscalculation of marks, recalculate and make changes if necessary. If the student convinces you that their answer is acceptable, acknowledge that you had not thought of that possibility and alter the marks accordingly. If the student has not convinced you that a grade change is in order, advise him or her of the proper procedure for appealing grades. Normally, the first level of appeal will be to the professor.

Deal directly with students who are angry or upset about their grade. Ask an upset student to take a day or more to cool off. It is also helpful to ask the student to prepare in writing the complaint or justification for a grade change. When you meet with the student in your office, have all the relevant materials at hand: the test questions, answer key or criteria, and examples of good answers.

Listen to the student's concerns or read the memo with an open mind and respond in a calm manner. Don't allow yourself to become antagonized, and don't antagonize the student. Describe the key elements of a good answer, and point out how the student's response was incomplete or incorrect. Help the student understand your reasons for assigning the grade that you did. Take time to think about the student's request or to reread the exam if you need to, but resist pressures to change a grade because of a student's personal needs (to get into graduate school or maintain status on the Dean's list). How to understand and evaluate the differences in student work:

I've done a lot of reading on grading and marking at the university level and one thing emerges immediately – no one's ever found a strict standard that works for every situation. The university guidelines on grading only give the most vague ways to distinguish between different levels of ability (see the attached official grading standards) i.e. 'good and very good' which is disguising the inability to distinguish between levels of comprehension through semantics. The novice TA should take some comfort in the fact that almost no one is trained in grading and assessment (possibly Education majors are, but they're not sharing), and this includes faculty members. Thus the rule that all grading is at some point arbitrary, political and personal holds true even if faculty members often give the impression of wisdom on the subject.

However, not all is lost. There are two strategies to cope with this problem. The first is to decide whether you grade in a binary/dichotomous manner, dependent on the nature of the material in front of you. The second method is to regularly employ Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning to your grading standards, as a means to differentiate the knowledge students are demonstrating in their work. OBJECTIVE VS. SUBJECTIVE:

The dichotomy is between requiring exact answers or a possible range of answers. An objective standard presumes that there is a single correct answer for any given question, while the subjective approach presumes that there are a variety of possible answers.

Objective grading works well for labs and short-answer assignments that test technical knowledge, processes, calculations, or other types of very specific knowledge. If the outcome of student work is to be able to comprehend and demonstrate knowledge, and the specificity of that

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knowledge is a crucial part of the course objectives (i.e. anatomy, mechanics, chemistry, professional terminology, etc.), then adopting a very rigorous standard makes more sense than allowing for a great deal of variation in answers.

Students should be informed in advance that you're looking for exactness in their responses, so that they can cater their studying to meeting that requirement. Marking using the 'objective' standard simplifies the process enormously because there can only be correct/incorrect answers. Opinions matter much less in this kind of grading, and the possibility of variation is drastically reduced.

If you're marking labs and students are required to show calculations, follow an agreed-upon format, or a distinct process, then failure to conform to that requirement warrants a deduction of marks. Only completion matters, and preferably correct completion. If your professor allows for half points on this type of assignment, make certain they tell you for what aspect – are partial diagrams, answers, calculations acceptable if they're correct up to the point where the student left off, or are points given for attempting the diagram/answer/calculation even if the results are wrong? Clarity in the rubric is key to this type of grading.

If your professor hasn't given you exact instructions on the rubric but expects that you'll use some sort of objective standard, first check with the other TA's in the course (if there are any) and make sure you apply your standard consistently; however, if you're the sole source of marking, decide in advance how you'll grade, what exceptions to your complete/incomplete rule you're willing to make, and make sure students know this in advance. Always document your decisions and justifications, and then follow through on them consistently.

Subjective grading presumes that there are a number of possible answers to any given question, and those answers can include informed opinions, synonyms, metaphors and similes, hopeful verbosity, references to class/discussion, appeals to similarity, and is likely to include a number of minor errors such as misspelled words, poor grammar, and circumlocution (talking excessively around a thing without ever reaching a point).

The upside to subjective grading is that it gives a tremendous amount of room to a TA to determine what the correct answer is, and how that form might be manifested. The obvious downside to subjective grading is that you can encounter many close, but not-quite on the mark answers and this makes distinguishing the difference between correct and incorrect problematic.

The choice in subjective grading is deciding again, in advance, just how much room you're going to give to students in answering the question. Are you willing to accept partially correct answers, examples that are close or very similar, and are partial points available for close, but imprecise answers? This sort of grading is a lot more common in the social sciences, and tends to be much more influenced by the clarity and writing ability of the student – I've noticed that there can actually be less content in a well-written response that a poorly written one, and yet the former is likely to receive a higher mark.

One method to offset the problems of subjective grading standards is to employ a second reader, either another TA or some poor unsuspecting soul you've forced into the process. A second set of eyes on the same material can reduce the problems in deciding if an answer meets the standard, and has the added benefit of allowing you to debate the differences. As always, if you come to a firm conclusion on a particular question, document that decision and apply the result consistently. Using a taxonomy

The second strategy (and one that works well as you try to decipher the joys of subjective

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grading), is to keep a copy of Bloom's Taxonomy on hand. This cumulative hierarchical framework consists of six categories each requiring achievement of the prior skill or ability before the next, more complex, category is applied. The taxonomy suggests a way of categorizing levels of learning and thus a way of distinguishing different levels of student ability.

Justifying why you grade an answer lower or higher in comparison to other work is a matter of distinguishing the intellectual abilities that have been employed in the answer. Bloom's allows you to rate problematic answers by the competences they demonstrate. An answer that simply regurgitates knowledge is not as worthy as one that analyzes and applies that knowledge. Bloom's takes some getting used to, but I find it invaluable in explaining to students why seemingly similar responses have different grades.

BLOOM'S TAXONOMY

Competence Skills Demonstrated

Knowledge / Remembering

• observation and recall of information • knowledge of dates, events, places • knowledge of major ideas • mastery of subject matter • Question Cues:

list, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label, collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name, who, when, where, etc.

Comprehension/ Understanding Comprehension/ Understanding (cont.)

• understanding information • grasp meaning • translate knowledge into new context • interpret facts, compare, contrast • order, group, infer causes • predict consequences • Question Cues:

summarize, describe, interpret, contrast, predict, associate, distinguish, estimate, differentiate, discuss, extend

Application/ Applying

• use information • use methods, concepts, theories in new situations • solve problems using required skills or knowledge • Questions Cues:

apply, demonstrate, calculate, complete, illustrate, show, solve, examine, modify, relate, change, classify, experiment, discover

©2015 Edward White

Analysis/ Analysing

• seeing patterns • organization of parts • recognition of hidden meanings • identification of components • Question Cues:

analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify, arrange, divide, compare, select, explain, infer

Synthesis/ Evaluating

• use old ideas to create new ones • generalize from given facts • relate knowledge from several areas • predict, draw conclusions • Question Cues:

combine, integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, plan, create, design, invent, what if?, compose, formulate, prepare, generalize, rewrite

Evaluation/ Creating

• compare and discriminate between ideas • assess value of theories, presentations • make choices based on reasoned argument • verify value of evidence • recognize subjectivity • Question Cues

assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend, convince, select, judge, explain, discriminate, support, conclude, compare, summarize

5

5From Benjamin S. Bloom Taxonomy of educational objectives. Published by Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA.

Copyright (c) 1984 by Pearson Education.

©2015 Edward White

“Using the Revised Taxonomy in an adaptation from the Omaha Public Schools Teacher's Corner, a lesson objective based upon the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears is presented for each of the

six levels of the Cognitive Process as shown on the Revised Taxonomy Table.

Remember: Describe where Goldilocks lived.

Understand: Summarize what the Goldilocks story was about.

Apply: Construct a theory as to why Goldilocks went into the house.

Analyze: Differentiate between how Goldilocks reacted and how you would react in each story event.

Evaluate: Assess whether or not you think this really happened to Goldilocks.

Create: Convey the Goldilocks story in a new form, to a new situation, with new implications.

Although this is a very simple example of the application of Bloom's taxonomy the author is hopeful that it will demonstrate both the ease and the usefulness of the Revised Taxonomy Table. 6

6From:

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy#Revised_Bloom.27s_Taxonomy_.28RBT.29)

©2015 Edward White

GRADING ADJECTIVES

For those moments when writing 'well-done' or 'needs work' fills you with dread / boredom / exhaustion. Also useful when on the bus, because one may inevitably want to develop a hierarchy of praise and condemnation. Good: Superior, quality, excellent, superb, outstanding, magnificent, exceptional, marvellous, wonderful, first-rate, first-class, sterling, satisfactory, acceptable, up to scratch, up to standard, great, terrific, fantastic, top-notch, robust, sturdy, strong, vigorous, substantial, appreciable, significant, convincing, persuasive, telling, potent, cogent, compelling, amusing, diverting, fascinating, absorbing, gripping, riveting, captivating, engaging, enthralling, interesting, capital, impressive, remarkable, brilliant. Moderate: Adequate, good enough, reasonable, fair, decent, average, tolerable, acceptable, passable, middling, moderate, fine. Bad: Poor, inferior, second-rate, second-class, unsatisfactory, inadequate, unacceptable, not up to scratch, not up to par, deficient, imperfect, defective, faulty, shoddy, woeful, serious, grave, critical, acute, flawed, defective, unsound, imperfect, distorted, inaccurate, incorrect, erroneous, imprecise, fallacious, misleading, abysmal.

©2015 Edward White

Sample Short Paper Rubric

STRUCTURE CONTENT

Double-spaced (if required) Answers the response paper question

12 point font Demonstrates comprehension of concept(s)

Normal margins Uses various kinds of evidence to support argument

Two pages Applies concept to scholarly/real-world context

Appropriate language (formal English, no internet/text writing)

Identifies differences between theory and application (narrows premises)

Basic syntax & grammar Interprets the concept(s) in light of tutorial discussion

Clear statement of their position on the question (thesis statement)

Makes connections to related materials/ideas

3 clear points of evidence for their position Assesses the value of ideas/evidence

Explanation of how evidence supports their position

Provides concise summary of ideas, argument & conclusion(s)

Logical flow of thesis, major points, evidence, conclusions/summary

Clear transitions between major points

Summary of argument and/or of discussion

Footnote/endnotes of relevant thoughts or tangents of interest

Question(s) for further study/investigation

One or more definitions paraphrased or quoted from the ODS (using appropriate citation)

One or more quotes or citations from the textbook

Citation of internet source(s) or non-scholarly material

A 'Works Cited' (as/if required by citation format)

©2012 Edward White

Official Grading Standards Undergraduate Records

University of Victoria 2011

Passing Grade

Grade Point Value Description

A+ A A-

9 8 7

Exceptional, outstanding and excellent performance. Normally achieved by a minority of students. These grades indicate a student who is self-initiating, exceeds expectation and has an insightful grasp of the subject matter.

B+ B B-

6 5 4

Very good, good and solid performance. Normally achieved by the largest number of students. These grades indicate a good grasp of the subject matter or excellent grasp in one area balanced with satisfactory grasp in the other area

C+ C

3 2

Satisfactory, or minimally satisfactory. These grades indicate a satisfactory performance and knowledge of the subject matter.

D 1 Marginal Performance. A student receiving this grade demonstrated a superficial grasp of the subject matter.

COM Excluded Grade Complete (pass). Used only for 0-unit courses and those credit courses designated by the Senate. Such courses are identified in the course listings.

Failing Grades

Grade Point Value Description

E 0 Conditional supplemental.

F 0 Unsatisfactory performance. Wrote final examination and completed course requirements; no supplemental.

N 0 Did not write examination or complete course requirements by the end of term or session; no supplemental.

N/X Excluded Grade Did not complete course requirements by the end of the term; no supplemental. Used only for co-op work terms and for courses designated by Senate. Such courses are identified in the course listings. The grade is EXCLUDED from the calculation of all grade point averages.

F/X Excluded Grade Unsatisfactory performance. Completed course requirements; no supplemental. Used only for co-op work terms and for courses designated by Senate. Such courses are identified in the course listings. The grade is EXCLUDED from the calculation of all grade point averages.

This is included not for the purpose of explaining common UVic grading but rather for demonstrating how confusing, unintelligible, and unhelpful such a grade breakdown is without clear guidelines – i.e. what is the difference between 'good' and 'excellent'? How do you determine performance without reference to assessment methods?