Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment in College

The second edition of Effective Grading—the book that has become a classic in the field—provides a proven hands-on guide for evaluating student work and offers an in-depth examination of the link between teaching and grading. Authors Barbara E. Walvoord and Virginia Johnson Anderson explain that grades are not isolated artifacts but part of a process that, when integrated with course objectives, provides rich information about student learning, as well as being a tool for learning itself. The authors show how the grading process can be used for broader assessment objectives, such as curriculum and institutional assessment.

This thoroughly revised and updated edition includes a wealth of new material including:

• Expanded integration of the use of technology and online teaching

• A sample syllabus with goals, outcomes, and criteria for student work

• New developments in assessment for grant-funded projects

• Additional information on grading group work, portfolios, and service-learning experiences

• New strategies for aligning tests and assignments with learning goals

• Current thought on assessment in departments and general education, using classroom work for program assessments, and using assessment data systematically to "close the loop"

• Material on using the best of classroom assessment to foster institutional assessment

• New case examples from colleges and universities, including community colleges