Teachers at all levels of education today struggle in their efforts to assign fair, accurate, and meaningful grades to students with disabilities, especially those placed in general education classrooms. Lacking specific policies or recommendations, most teachers apply informal, individual grading adaptations for such students. Although these…

This study explored teachers' views on several decisive issues regarding grading and reporting student learning. Data were gathered through a survey administered to 556 K-12 teachers from a medium-size, Midwest school district with a student population that closely approximates national student demographics. MANOVA analyses revealed few…

Few educators receive any formal training in assigning marks to students' work or in grading students' performance and achievement. As a result, when required to do so, most simply reflect back on what was done to them and then, based on those experiences, try to develop policies and practices that they believe are fair, equitable, defensible, and…

This study investigated possible differences in the perceptions of three stakeholder groups (teachers, students, and parents) regarding grading and grade reporting. Data were gathered through questionnaires completed by 215 teachers in 2 states, 4,265 elementary school, middle school, and high school students, and 944 parents. Different forms were…

A common practice in medical education is to create a prescribed distribution of grades, or ratings, so that only a certain percentage of students receive the highest marks. This approach typically is employed to curb grade inflation and as a means to help faculty distinguish outstanding performers. Despite the well-intentioned reasoning for using…