1. Marks are used to provide feedback on student achievement and should reflect only academic performance, not other factors. 2. Various marking systems exist that compare student performance to other students, established standards, aptitude, effort, or improvement. Comparing to established standards best reflects academic achievement. 3. Common marking symbols are letter grades and numerical scores, sometimes combined with checklists of specific skills. However, inconsistencies in standards make comparisons difficult.

1. Marks and Marking Systems
EDUC 243- Educational Evaluation
Subject Professor: James L. Paglinawan, Ph.D.
STUDENT: BENEDICT E. MALAGUIT

2. What is the purpose of a
mark?
Why be concerned about
marking?
What should a Mark Reflect?

3. What is the purpose of a mark?
Marks are assigned to provide
feedback about student
achievement.

4. Why be concerned about marking?
Marks have become an accepted and expected aspect
of our culture.
Parents know that children are compared with each
other through their marks. Thus marks have considerable
meaning for both child and parent.

5. What should a Mark Reflect?
•What a mark should reflect depends on the
subject or topic being marked.
•Marks are assigned to provide feedback
about academic achievement in order for
students to be compared according to their
achievement.

6. Various types of marking systems have
been used in the schools. They may be
considered along two dimensions:
Marking Systems
2. Type of
symbols.
1. Type of
comparison
involved.

7. Types of Comparison
Often the type of symbol a teacher uses is
determined at the school or district level – the
teacher has little to say about whether an A-F;
E, G, S, U; or a numerical marking system is
employed.

8. Marks are based on comparisons usually from
among comparisons of students with:
5. Actual
versus
potential
improvement.
4. Actual
versus
potential
effort..
3. Aptitude.2. Established
standards.
1. Other
students.

9. Comparisons with Other Students – Certainly you have
had instructors who have graded “on the curve”. It
almost sounds illegal, shady, or underhanded.

10. Basically, all that the expression “grading on the curve”
means is that your grade or marks depends on how
your achievement compares with the achievement of
other students in you class.

11. Sometimes district or schools encourage grading on the curve by
specifying the percentages of students who will be assigned
various grades. The following distributions as an example:
Grade Percentage of Students
A 10
B 25
C 40
D 20
E 5

12. The main advantage of such a system is that it
simplifies marking decisions. The student is either in
the top 10% or he or she doesn’t get an A.

13. Comparison with Established Standards In a marking
system using comparison with established standards. It is
possible for all students to get As or Fs or any other grade
in between.
How much the rest of the students in the class achieve is
irrelevant to a student’s grade. All that is relevant is
whether a student attains a defined standard of
achievement or performance.

14. In such a system, letter grades may be assigned based on
the percentage of test items answered correctly, as the
following distribution illustrates:
Grade Percentage of Items Answered Correctly
A 85
B 75
C 65
D 55
F Less than 55

15. Thus a student who answers 79% of the test
items correctly earns a B, regardless of
whether the rest of the class did better, worse,
or about the same. Obviously, such a system
requires some prior knowledge of the difficulty
of the test and what level of achievement or
performance is reasonable to expect.

16. Several advantages:
First, it is possible, in theory, for all students to obtain
high grades if they put forth sufficient effort (assuming the
percentage cutoffs are not unreasonably high).Second,
assignment of grades is simplified. Finally, assuming that
the ability levels of incoming students remain fairly constant
and that tests remain comparable in validity and difficulty,
teachers who work to improve teaching effectiveness
should see improvement in grades with the passage of
time.

17. Comparisons with Aptitude Aptitude is another
name for potential or ability. In aptitude-based marking
systems students are compared neither to other
students nor to established standards. Instead, they
are compared to themselves.

18. Comparison of Achievements with Effort Systems
that compare achievement with effort are similar to
those that compare achievement with aptitude.
Students who get average test scores but have to
work hard to get them are given high marks.
Students who get average scores but do not have to
work hard to get them are given lower grades.

19. Several problems plague marking systems that are based on effort.
First, we have no known measure of effort. Unlike aptitude, for which
reliable and valid measures exist, effort is at best estimated by
informal procedures. Second, within a system children are punished
for being bright and catching on quickly, while other children are
rewarded for taking a long time to master concepts. Third, there is
the old problem of the marks not representing academic
achievement. Effort may cover up academic attainment, making
marks all the more difficult to interpret. Finally, record keeping is
once again complex.

20. The advantage cited for grading based on effort is that it
serves to motivate the slower or turned off students, but it
may also serve to turn off the brighter students who would
quickly see such a system as unfair.

21. Comparison of Achievement with ImprovementMarking
systems may compare the amount of improvement
between the beginning (pretest) and end (posttest) of
instruction.

22. TYPES OF
SYMBOLS
1. Letter Grade
2. Numerical Grade
3. Other Symbols
4. Checklist

23. Types of Symbols
Letter Grades are the most common symbol
system. Many American schools use the letters A-F
to report marks. Often, plus and minus symbols are
used to indicate finer distinctions between the letter
grades. This system, along with its variations (E, G,
S, U for excellent, good, satisfactory, or
unsatisfactory), has several advantages that have
led to its widespread adaptation and continuing
popularity.

24. First, the letter system is widely understood.
Students, teachers, parents, administrators, and
employers understand.
Second, such a system is compact, requiring only one
or two spaces to report a summary mark of an entire
semesters work.
Third, such a system has just about the optimal
number of levels of judgement humans can effectively
exercise (Miller, 1956).

25. Limitations of the system are worth considering.
First, the specific meaning of letter grades varies from
class to class and from school to school.
Second, letter grades fail to clearly indicate the
student’s actual level of mastery.

26. Numerical GradesThe numerical symbol
system is another type of mark commonly
used in the schools. Such systems usually
employ 100 as the highest mark, and
report cards often carry letter grade
equivalents for the range of numerical
grades. For example,

27. Numerical Grade Letter Grade
90-100 A
80-89 B
70-79 C
60-69 D
Below 60 F

28. Three main advantages:
First, like letter grades, they provide a convenient summary
mark for a semester’s or year’s work.
Second, unlike letter grades, numerical grades are easily
averaged to obtain the “correct” final marks.
Third, They are widely understood – most pupils and
parents realize there are substantial differences between a
mark of 95 and one of 75.

29. Disadvantages:
First, the discrimination are finer than humans can
really make (Miller, 1956)
Second, as with letter grades, we are never sure just
what a grade means, since standards may vary
considerably from school to school.

30. Other Symbols Pass – Fail (P-F) grading reached
its popularity peak in the 1970’s. Fewer schools
exclusively employ this approach today because of
its shortcomings. One shortcoming is that such
symbols do not provide enough information: P could
mean the student exhibited anywhere from
exceptional to marginal performance in the class.

31. Checklist A common adjunct to a letter,
numerical or pass-fail symbol system is a checklist.
Since those symbol systems may fail to define just
what a student can or cannot do, many report cards
now include skill checklists to go along with their
grade symbols for each subject. Checklists are
also used to provide information about
nonacademic aspects of the child.

32. Summary:
1. Marks are used to provide information about
student achievement.
2. Marks should reflect academic achievement
and nothing more. Grades for attitude, effort,
improvement, conduct, and so on should be
recorded separately from marks.

33. 3. Marks often reflect factors other than
achievement and are often assigned according
to a variety of marking systems. This makes
valid comparisons of marks across schools,
and even across teachers, difficult at best.
4. Several types of marking systems are
employed in the schools today. These involve
comparison of a student with:

34. a. Other students (grades depend on how well the
student did compared with other students).
B. Established standards (grades depend on how well a
student’s performance compares with pre-established
standards).

35. c. Aptitude (grades depend on how consistent
a student’s actual achievement is with his or
her achievement potential).
D.Effort (grades depend on how hard the
student works).
E. Improvement (Grades depend on how much
progress a student makes over the course of
instruction).

36. 5. Each system has its advantages, but marking
based on comparisons with established standards
seems to best fit the main function of marks – to
provide feedback about academic achievement.

37. 6. The symbols most commonly used in marking
systems are letter grades (A-F, E-U) and numerical
grades (0-100). Such symbol systems are often
combined with checklists to provide specific
information about such factors as skill level, conduct,
and attitude.

38. 7. When combining grades from quizzes, test papers ,
homework, etc., that have different ranges or variation,
and which are not on 100-point scales, equate the
variability of each component before weighting and
computing the final mark.

39. Thank You and May
the Lord God Bless
Us All!