I’m reading an excellent book right now, What the Best College Teachers Do, by Ken Bain. Though it’s research-based, it’s actually an easy read and chock full of ideas for instructors. In the chapter on evaluating students, he makes a number of thought-provoking points:
- Assigning student grades should be about helping students learn, but often has to do with other considerations such as rating and ranking students.
- Exams and assignments can also help to evaluate teaching.
- Evidence of student learning can come from a variety of sources, not just exams and papers.
- Student assessment should concentrate on how students are able to comprehend the field, not about guessing what factual information the instructor wants them to recall. It should focus on the reasoning abilities that students should develop, the desired level of understanding they need, and the sorts of problems they should be able to solve.
According to Bain (2004),
In this conception of assessment, the primary goal is to help students learn to think about their own thinking so they can use the standards of the discipline or profession to recognize shortcomings and correct their reasoning as they go. It isn’t to rank students. Grading on a curve, therefore, makes no sense in this world. Students must meet certain standards of excellence, and while none of those standards are absolute, they are not arbitrary either. Grades represent clearly articulated levels of achievement.
If you’re looking for an engaging read, I highly recommend this book.
Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
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Excellent comments. I emailed them to my students. Teachers have to understand how students think, and build from there. See “Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better” on amazon.