Assessment of Student Learning 2 Module 6

Module Title: Using and Reporting Assessment Results

Course Title: Assessment of Student Learning 2
Course Number: Ed 107
Total Learning Time: 6 hours
Prerequisites: NONE

Lesson Outcomes
1. Define grading in the educational setting of the Philippines.
2. Explain grading as a process.
3. Identify the different purposes of grading.
4. Explain the rationales for grading.
5. Reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of each grading rationale
6. Reflect on when a rational for grading is appropriate or not.

Indicative Content
1. Defining Grading
2. The Purposes of Grading
a. Feedback
b. Administrative Purposes
c. Discovering Exceptionalities
d. Motivation
3. Rationalizing Grades
a. Absolute/ Fixed Standards
b. Norms
c. Individual Growth
d. Achievement Relative to Ability
e. Achievement Relative to Effort
 Assessment of Student Learning 2 Module 6

Discussion:
A. Defining Grading
Effective and efficient way of recording and reporting evaluation results is very
important and useful to persons concerned in the school setting. Hence, it is very important
that students’ progress is recorded and reported to them, their parents and teachers,
school administrators, counselors and employers as well because this information shall be
used to guide and motivate students to learn, establish cooperation and collaboration
between the home and the school and in certifying the students’ qualifications for higher
educational levels and for employment. In the educational setting, grades are used to
record and report students’ progress. Grades are essential in education such that it is
through it that students’ learning can be assessed, quantified and communicated. Every
teacher needs to assign grades which are based on assessment tools such as tests,
quizzes, projects and so on.
Through these grades, achievement of learning goals can be communicated with
students and parents, teachers, administrators, and counselors. However, it should be
remembered that grades are just a part of communicating student achievement; therefore,
it must be used with additional feedback methods.
According to Hogan (2007), grading implies (a) combining several assessments, (b)
translating the result into some type of scale that has evaluative meaning, and (c) reporting
the result in a formal way. From this definition, we can clearly say that grading is more
than quantitative values as many may see it; rather, it is a process. Grades are frequently
misunderstood as scores. However, it must be clarified that scores make up the grades.
Grades re the ones written in the report cards of students which is a compilation of
students’ progress and achievement all through out a quarter, a trimester, a semester or a
school year. Grades are symbols used to convey the overall performance or achievement of
a student and they are frequently used for summative assessments of students. Take for
instance two long exams, five quizzes, and ten homework assignments as requirements for
a quarter in a particular subject area.
To arrive at grades, a teacher must be able to combine scores from the different
sets of requirements and compute or translate them according to the assigned weights or
percentages. Then, he/ she should also be able to design effective ways on how he/ she
can communicate it with students, parents, administrators and others who are concerned.
Another term not commonly used to refer to the process is marking. Figure 1 shows a
graphical interpretation summarizing the grading process.
 Assessment of Student Learning 2 Module 6

B. The Purposes of Grading

Grading is very important because it has many purposes. In the educational setting,
the primary purpose of grades is to communicate to parents, and students their progress
and performance. For teachers, grades of students can serve as an aid in assessing and
reflecting whether they were effective in implementing their instructional plans, whether
their instructional goals and objectives were met, and such. Administrators on the other
hand, can use the grades of students for a more general purpose as compared to teachers,
such that they can use grades to evaluate programs, identify and assess areas that needs
to be improved and whether or not curriculum goals and objectives of the school, and state
has been met by the students through their institution. From these purposes identified, the
purposes of grading can be sorted out into four major parts in the educational setting.

Feedback
Feedback plays an important role in the field of education such that it provides
information about the students’ progress or lack. Feedback can be addressed to three
distinct groups concerned in the teaching and learning process: parents, students, and
teachers.
Feedback to Parents. Grades especially conveyed through report cards provide a
critical feedback to parents about their children’s progress in school. Aside from grades in
the report cards however, feedbacks can also be obtained from standardized tests,
teachers’ comments.
Grades also help parents to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their child.
Depending on the format of report cards, parents may also receive feedbacks about their
children’s behavior, conduct, social skills and other variables that might be included in the
report card. On a general point of view, grades basically tell parents whether their child
was able to perform satisfactorily.
However, parents are not fully aware about the several and separate assessments which
students have taken that comprised their grades. Some of these assessments can be seen
by parents but not all. Therefore, grades of students, communicated formally to parents
can somehow let parents have an assurance that they are seeing the overall summary of
their children’s performance in school.
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Feedback to Students. Grades are one way of providing feedbacks to students such
that it is through grades that students can recognize their strengths and weaknesses. Upon
knowing these strengths and weaknesses, students can be able to further develop their
competencies and improve their deficiencies. Grades also help students to keep track of
their progress and identify changes in their performance.
Personally, I feel that this feedback is directly proportional with the age and year
level with the students such that grades are given more importance and meaning by a high
school student as compared to a grade one student; however, I believe that the motivation
grades can give is equal across different ages and year levels. Such that grade one
students (young ones) are motivated to get high grades because of external rewards and
high school students (older ones) are also motivated internally to improve one’s
competencies and performance.
Feedback to Teachers. Grades serve as relevant information to teachers. It is
through grades of students that they can somehow (a) assess whether students were able
to acquire the competencies they are supposed to have after instruction; (b) assess
whether their instruction plan and implementation was effective for the students; (c) reflect
about their teaching strategies and methods; (d) reflect about possible positive and
negative factors that might have affected the grades of students before, during and after
instruction; and (e) evaluate whether the program was indeed effective or not. Given these
beneficial purposes of grades to teachers, we can really say that teaching and learning is a
two way interrelated process, such that it is not only the students who learn from the
teacher, but the teacher also learns from the students. Through grades of students, a
teacher can be able to undergo self- assessment and self- reflection in order to improve
herself and be able to recognize relative effectiveness of varying instructional approaches
across different student groups being observed and be flexible and effective across
different situations.

Administrative Purposes
Promotion and Retention. Grades can serve as one factor in determining if a student
will be promoted to the next level or not. Through the grades of students, skills, and
competencies required of him to have for a certain level can be assumed whether or not he
was able to achieve the curriculum goals and objectives of the school and/ or the state. In
some schools, the grade of students is a factor taken into consideration for his/ her
eligibility in joining extracurricular activities (performing, theater arts, varsity, cheering
squads… etc.). Grades are also used to qualify a student to enter high school or college in
some cases. Other policies may arise depending on the schools’ internal regulations. At
times, failing marks may prohibit a student from being a part of the varsity team, running
for officer, joining school organizations, and some privileges that students with passing
grade get. In some colleges and universities, students who get passing grades are given
priority.
Placement of Students and Awards. Through grades of students, placement can be
done. Grades are factors to be considered in placing students according to their
competencies and deficiencies. Through which, teaching can be more focused in terms of
developing the strengths and improving the weaknesses of students. For example, students
who consistently get high, average and failing grades are placed in one section wherein
teachers can be able to focus more and emphasize students’ needs and demands to ensure
a more productive teaching learning process. Another example which is more domain
 Assessment of Student Learning 2 Module 6

specific would be grouping students having same competency on a certain subject

together. Through this strategy, students who have high ability in Science can further
improve their knowledge and skills by receiving more complex and advanced topics and
activities at a faster pace, and students having low ability in Science can receive simpler
and more specific topics at a slower pace (but making sure they are able to acquire the
minimum competencies required for that level as prescribed by the state curriculum). Aside
from placement of students, grades are frequently use as basis for academic awards. Many
or almost all schools, universities and colleges have honor rolls, and dean’s list, to
recognize student achievement and performance. Grades also determine graduation awards
for the overall achievement or excellence a student has garnered through out his/ her
education in a single subject or for the whole program he has taken. in enrolling for the
succeeding term, as compared to students who get failing grades.
Program Evaluation and Improvement. Through the grades of students taking a
certain program, program effectiveness can be somehow evaluated. Grades of students can
be a factor used in determining whether the program was effective or not. Through the
evaluation process, some factors that might have affected the program’s effectiveness can
be identified and minimized to improve the program further for future implementations.
Admission and Selection. External organizations from the school also use grades as
reference for admission. When students transfer from one school to another, their grades
play crucial role for their admission. Most colleges and universities also use grades of
students in their senior year in high school together with the grade they shall acquire for
the entrance exam. However, grades from academic records and high stakes tests are not
the sole basis for admission; some colleges and universities also require recommendations
from the school, teachers and/ or counselors about students’ behavior and conduct. The
use of grades is not limited to the educational context, it is also used in employment, for
job selection purposes and at times even in insurance companies that use grades as basis
for giving discounts in insurance rates.

Discovering Exceptionalities
Diagnosing Exceptionalities. Exceptionalities, disorders and other malfunctions can
also be determined through the use of grades. Although the term exceptionality is often
stereotyped as something negative, it has its positive sides such as giftedness and such.
Grades play an essential role in determining these exceptionalities such that it is a factor to
be considered in diagnosing a person. Through grades, intelligence, ability, achievement,
aptitude, and other factors that are quite difficult to measure can be interpreted and
therefore be given proper interventions and treatments when they all out of the
established norms.
Counseling Purposes. It is through the grades of students that teachers can
somehow seek the assistance of a counselor. For instance, a student who normally
performs well in class suddenly incurs consecutive failing marks, then teachers who was
able to observe this should be able to think and reflect about the probable reasons that
caused the student’s performance to deteriorate and consult with the counselor about
procedures she can do to help the student. If the situation requires skills that are beyond
the capacity of the teacher, then referral should be made. Grades are also used in
counseling when personality, ability, achievement, intelligence, and other standardized
tests are being measured.
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Motivation

Motivation can be provided through grades; most students study hard in order to
acquire good grades; once they get good grades, they are motivated to study harder to get
higher grades. Some students are motivated to get good grades because of their enthusiast
to join extracurricular activities, since some schools do not allow students to join extra
curricular activities if they have failing grades. There are numerous ways on how grades
serve as motivators for students across different contexts (family, social, personal…etc.).
Thus, grades may serve as one of the many motivators for students.

C. Rationalizing Grades
Attainment of educational goals can be made easier if grades could be accurate
enough to convey a clear view of a student’s performance and behavior. But the question is
what basis shall we use in assigning grades? Should we grade students in relation to (a) an
absolute standard, (b) norms or the student’s peer group, (c) the individual growth of each
student, (d) the ability of each student, or (e) the effort of the students/? Each of these
approaches has their own advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation, test
takers, and the test being used. It is expected for teachers to be skillful in determining
when to use a certain approach and when not to.
Absolute Standards. Using absolute standards as basis for grades means that
students’ achievement is related to a well defined body of content or a set of skills. For a
criterionreferenced measurement, this basis is strongly used. An example for a well defined
body of content would be: “Students will be able to enumerate all the presidents of the
Philippines and the corresponding years they were in service.” An example for a set of skills
would be something like: “Students will be able to assemble and disassemble the M16 in 5
minutes.” However, this type of grading system is somewhat questionable when different
teachers make and use their own standards for grading students’ performance since not all
teachers have the same set of standards. Therefore, standards of teachers may vary across
situations and is subjective according to their own philosophies, competencies and internal
beliefs about assessing students and education in general. Hence, this type of grading
system would be more appropriate when it is used in a standardized manner. Such that a
school administration or the state would provide the standards and make it uniform for all.
An example for tests wherein this type of grading is appropriate would be standardized
tests wherein scales are from established norms and grades are obtained objectively.
Norms. The grades of students in this type of grading system is related to the
performance of all others who took the same test; such that the grade one acquires is not
based on set of standards but is based from all other individuals who took the same test.
This means that students reevaluated based on what is reasonably expected from a
representative group. To further explain this grading system, take for instance that in a
group of 20 students, the student who got the most number of correct answers- regardless
whether he got 60% or 90% of the items correctly, gets a high grade; and the student who
got the least number of correct answers regardless whether he got 10% or 90% of the
items correctly, would get a low grade. It can be observed in this example that (a) 60%
would warrant a high grade if it was the highest among all the grades of participants who
took the test; and (b) a 90% can possibly be graded as low considering that it was the
lowest among all the grades of the participants who took the test. Therefore, this grading
system is not advisable when the test is to be administered in a heterogeneous group
 Assessment of Student Learning 2 Module 6

because results would be extremely high or extremely low. Another problem for this
approach is the lack of teacher competency in creating a norm for a certain test which lets
them settle for absolute standards as basis for grading students. Also, this approach would
require a lot of time and effort in order to create a norm for a sample. This approach is also
known as “grading on the curve.”
Individual Growth. The level of improvement is seen as something relevant in this
type of grading system as compared to the level of achievement. However, this approach is
somewhat difficult to implement such that growth can only be observed when it is related
to grades of students prior to instruction and grades after the instruction, hence, pretests
and posttests are to be used in this type of grading system. Another issue about this type
of grading system is that it is very difficult to obtain gain or growth scores even with highly
refined instruments. This system of grading disregards standards and grades of others who
took the test; rather, it uses the quantity of progress that a student was able to have to
assess whether he/ she will have a high grade or a low grade. Notice that initial status of
students is required in this type of grading system.
Achievement Relative to Ability. Ability in this context refers to mental ability,
intelligence, aptitude, or some familiar constructs. This type of grading is quite simple to
understand such that a student with high potential on a certain domain I expected to
achieve at a superior level, and the student with limited ability should be rewarded with
high grades if the student exceeds expectations.
Achievement Relative to Effort. Similarly, this type of grading system is relative to
the effort that students exerted such that a student who works really diligently, responsibly,
complying to all assignments and activities, doing extra credit projects and so on should
receive a high grade regardless of the quality of work he was able to produce. On the
contrary, a student who produces a good work will not be merited a high grade if he was
not able to exert enough effort. Notice that grades are based merely on efforts and not on
standards.
As mentioned earlier, each of these approaches in arriving at grades have their own
strengths and limitations. Using absolute standards, one can focus on the achievement of
students. However, this approach fails to state reasonable standards of performance and
therefore can be subjective.
Another drawback in this approach would be the difficulty in specifying clear
definitions; although this difficulty can be solved, it can never be eliminated.
The second approach is appealing such that it ensures realism that is at times
lacking in the first approach. It avoids the problem of setting too high or too low standards.
Also, situation wherein everyone fails can be prevented. However, the individual grade of
students is dependent on the others which is quite unfair.
A second drawback to this kind of approach is that how will the teacher choose the
relevant group; will it be the students in one class, students in the school, students in the
state, or students in the past ten years? Answers to these questions are essential to be
answered by a teacher to have a rationale if achievement in relation to other students.
Another difficulty for this approach is the tendency of encouraging unhealthy competitions;
if this happens, then students become competitors with one another and it is not a good
environment for teaching and learning The last three approaches can be clustered such
that they have similar strengths and weaknesses. The strength of theses three is that they
focus more on the individual, making the individual define a standard for himself. However,
these three approaches have two drawbacks; one is that conclusions would seem awkward,
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or if not, detestable. For example, a student who performed low but was able to exert
effort gets a high grade; but a student who performed well but exerted less effort got a
lower grade. Another example would be: Ken with an IQ of 150 gets a lower grade
compared to Tom with an IQ of 80 because Ken should have performed better; while we
were pleasantly amazed with Tom’s performance… Kyle starting with little knowledge about
statistics learned and progressed a lot. Lyra, who was already proficient and knowledgeable
in statistics, gained less progress. After the term, Kyle got a higher grade since he was able
to progress more; although it can be clearly seen that Lyra is better than him. Conditions of
these types make people feel uncomfortable with such conclusions. The second drawback
would be reliability. Reliability is hard to obtain when we use differences as basis for grades
of students. In the case of effort, it is quite hard to measure and quantify it, therefore, it is
based on subjective judgments and informal observations. Hence, resulting grades from
these three approaches when combined to achievement are somewhat unreliable.
Table 1 presents a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of the different
rationales in grading.
 Assessment of Student Learning 2 Module 6

Evaluation
A. Answer the following:
1. Why is grading considered as a process?
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2. Explain the different steps that make up grading.
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3. Differentiate grades from scores.

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4. What are the different purposes of grades in the educational context? Explain
each.
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 Assessment of Student Learning 2 Module 6

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5. How does feedback affect your performance in school?

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Additional Readings:
1. Kubizyn, D. & Borich, G.(2000). Educational testing and measurement. NY:
2. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Linn, R. (2000). Measurement and assessment in
teaching. USA: Prentice Hall, Inc.
3. Musial, D. et al. (2009). Foundations of meaningful educational assessment. NY:
McGraw-Hill Co., Inc.
4. Navarro, R. et al. (2017). Assessment of Learning 1. Quezon City: Lorimar
Publishing

References:
1. Navarro, R. et al. (2019). Assessment of Learning 1. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing