Making the Pitch for Contract Grading

By Annette Finley-Croswhite, 杰奥图尔, 科尔Matheson, and 凯文位于纽约州迪普市

Contract grading is becoming more and more popular with faculty throughout academia. 什么是合同分级? 简而言之，这是一个将工作量、评估和成绩分开的学生作业评估系统.

Student labor generally includes homework, in-class work and discussion (or discussion posts), individual or group projects as well as drafts and revisions, 也许还有课外作业，比如参加大学举办的客座讲座. 学生可以回顾课程大纲和作业，并通过理解他们的成绩与他们的劳动联系在一起来决定他们在课堂上的表现. They then agree to complete the work based on the grade they seek.

以这种方式, as long as assignments are finished on time, 学生在整个学期都对自己在课程中的表现有很好的感觉，并且不会对期末意外的成绩感到惊讶. 因为合同是固定的, faculty are also less likely to change assignments during the semester (as sometimes happens), 这样学生们就不那么沮丧了. Another positive aspect: In the trauma-filled pandemic space we inhabit in our classrooms today, 合同评分可以被视为一种必要的教学方法，以减少与通过课程相关的压力和焦虑, 同时增加了学习的途径.

A critical attribute of contract grading is that because the grade is based on student labor, in most instances writing quality is not evaluated, 因为大家都知道，写作评分是非常主观的，是基于预先确定的、有偏见的观点，对某些类型的写作给予特权. 这 does not mean that writing is not discussed, as numerous opportunities can be made available to improve student writing. 事实上, 许多教师和学生观察到，通过合同评分来提高写作水平的努力有所增加，因为学生必须对教师的反馈做出反应才能完成作业, and they have more room to experiment without fear of a "bad grade.“此外, using traditional grading methods, faculty often spend the bulk of their time telling students what is wrong with their work. 有合同分级, 然而, higher levels of communication can occur between instructor and student, as can a stronger relationship of trust.

The 教师发展中心 will hold a workshop on contract grading on Nov. 从中午九点到下午一点.m. with ODU faculty 杰奥图尔, 科尔Matheson, 凯文位于纽约州迪普市, Ann Kumm and Megan Nutzman. 连接:

加入Zoom会议 | Meeting ID: 967 8191 3273 | Passcode: 699781

Below, three faculty members offer their experiences with and insight into contract grading.

杰奥图尔
Assistant professor, Department of Management

这 semester I took a substantial leap in my professional development as an educator. 多年来，我一直用评分标准来评估学生写作的内容和质量, 我邀请我的学生通过应用反种族主义写作评估生态的原则，直接和有意义地参与创造一种支持和同情的课堂文化，专注于他们的学习和发展, 2015) and grading contracts (Inoue, 2019). 这种教学方式的转变意味着我必须放弃一些控制权——这是一个令人不舒服的提议——这也意味着我必须承诺积极参与学生的写作过程，而不仅仅是他们写作成果的仲裁者.

正如一位学生所说, “就像在现实世界中一样, it was an agreement made by a collective of adults after discussion and open conversation. I like to think that people in this class are going to internalize this as they move on from ODU. 我希望它能让我们所有人都成为思想更开放的人，知道自己的意见和其他人的意见一样重要，妥协和理解毕竟并不太难实现.“在我们合同谈判的汇报中，合同概述了学生和教授在写作活动中的责任, 许多学生赞赏合同强调透明度和反馈，而不是自上而下, single source of evaluation and judgment. 学期过半, 我亲眼目睹了我的学生在写作方面的信心的增加，并且可以看到我的学生在商务写作方面的明显进步，这与往年不同. I could not be happier with the pedagogical shift I made.

科尔Matheson
英语系讲师

合同分级的原因: I implement contract grading in pursuit of equity. 在评估学生写作时, I realize that my implicit and explicit biases can skew students' grades. What makes "good" writing remains subjective, as variable readers and readings lead to variable judgments. 此外, these subjective judgments are not transparent practices for our students, 留下他们疑惑, "Why did my teacher give me this grade on my essay?" By contrast, contract grading improves transparency and objectivity. When students meet the terms of the contract, their grades are guaranteed. 这, 我希望, demystifies the assessment process, which allows students to focus on meeting disciplinary expectations, 而不是担心, "How will my teacher grade my essay?"

一位学生的回答是: When I introduced this semester's grading contract, 一个学生说, "Let me just say I love the way you grade!"

My advice for teachers interested in contract grading: Any assignment might be graded according to a contracted agreement between teachers and students. 首先，为学生分离出可管理的目标，以证明这些目标反映了学科期望或课程学习成果. 然后, teach students how to meet these expectations, offering feedback as the assignment process unfolds. Once students have met these goals, correlate their work with a contracted grade. 以这种方式, teaching and assessment become complementary if not simultaneous. 这也可以减轻老师在提交作业后的评分工作量. As assessment is embedded in the instructional process, teachers have already encountered, 结果是“分级”," student work prior to the final deadline.

凯文位于纽约州迪普市
Associate professor, Department of English

In my online writing class, students submit weekly entries. My contract grading approach - MICE - describes each weekly entry as Missing, 不完整的, 完整或额外. 如果学生在老师审阅完全班的所有作业之前没有提交作业，那么学生的作业将被标记为缺失. Complete work means that the student's entry meets all of the entry's labor criteria. 例如, an entry might ask a student to compose 350-500 words, cite the readings to apply the course concept (e.g., 观众, 类型)和他们自己的经历, and compare how the course concepts are applied in some example texts. If a student does all of that labor, 学生将获得完整的工作学分，并获得描述该劳动质量的反馈，以及该学生可以如何提高该劳动质量的反馈. 然而, if the student does not write 350 words, 没有引用课程阅读材料, or does not make the required comparison, 然后，学生将获得不完整的学分，并会得到明确的指导，告诉他们如何修改完整的学分——他们必须在学期结束前完成. 如果学生回答了我在页边评论中提出的问题，就可以获得额外的学分, 2) responds to my end comments email, 3) poses questions to their peers in their peer's workbook, or 4) responds to questions posed by their peers. Using any combination of these four methods, 学生必须每周多写250个单词，并将其记录在extra Work Journal上，以获得extra Work学分.

MICE分级方法利用谷歌文档的启示来制定一些反种族主义和社会建构主义理论的价值. 因为所有的学生都以B开始这门课，并且知道如果他们完成了所有的作业，他们就会得到这个分数, 他们不必担心以往不平等的经历会妨碍他们通过考试. 尽管如果学生没有完成作业，他们的成绩会被降低(而且社会不公平使得一些学生更容易完成作业，而另一些学生更难完成作业)。, they understand what work needs to be accomplished in order to consider the course passed; this gives the students more agency in determining the trajectory of their evaluation. 而我的形成性边际和最终反馈可能是基于我对他们未来受众的独特想象, their grade is not dependent upon meeting those expectations. Students are also not penalized for taking risks beyond their current knowledge; not meeting the instructor's expectations in these moments results in the beginning of a conversation that students can benefit from if they choose to engage with it.