Open AccessGRADING PRACTICES IN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOLS
Author(s) -
Pinchak Barbara Moretti,
Breland Hunter M.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
ets research bulletin series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2333-8504
pISSN - 0424-6144
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.1973.tb00656.x
Subject(s) - grading (engineering) , mathematics education , medicine , psychology , mathematics , statistics , engineering , civil engineering
During the spring of 1972, 1069 schools participated in a survey of U. S. high schools. Of those schools reporting information on their grading practices, 68% indicated that only letter grades were used, 16% indicated that only percentage grades were used, 4% used some other system (such as pass‐fail), and 9% used a combination of systems. (3% did not give complete information.) The meaning of grades within systems varied considerably. Percentage grades, in particular, showed the lack of a standard, with some being assigned as many as 8 equivalent letter grades. Conversely, some letter grades were assigned as many as 20 equivalent percentage grades. The most interesting finding of the survey of grading practices, however, relates to trends in grading. This survey suggests that there is less experimentation with alternative marking systems than might be expected.