A Century of Grading Research

TLDR

Grading denotes symbols assigned to student work or composite performance measures, and early 20‑century studies largely condemned teacher grades as unreliable. This review seeks to examine over a century of grading research across five study types. The review analyzes five categories: reliability of grades, composition of K‑12 report card grades, teacher perceptions, standards‑based grading, and higher education grading. Recent studies show that grades capture a multidimensional construct of cognitive and noncognitive factors valued by teachers, and the review outlines implications for future research and grading practices.

Abstract

Grading refers to the symbols assigned to individual pieces of student work or to composite measures of student performance on report cards. This review of over 100 years of research on grading considers five types of studies: (a) early studies of the reliability of grades, (b) quantitative studies of the composition of K–12 report card grades, (c) survey and interview studies of teachers’ perceptions of grades, (d) studies of standards-based grading, and (e) grading in higher education. Early 20th-century studies generally condemned teachers’ grades as unreliable. More recent studies of the relationships of grades to tested achievement and survey studies of teachers’ grading practices and beliefs suggest that grades assess a multidimensional construct containing both cognitive and noncognitive factors reflecting what teachers value in student work. Implications for future research and for grading practices are discussed.