- Comprehensive Grading Resources
- Grading Formative and Summative Feedback
- Establishing Grading Criteria Using Learning Objectives
- Designing and Using Rubrics
- Designing Effective Tests and Assessments
- Grading What Matters
- Differing Perspectives on Grading
- Books on Grading and Assessment Strategies
Comprehensive Grading Resources
Assess Teaching and Learning (Carnegie Mellon University)
Offers a broad perspective on assessment practices in general, how to design effective assessment such as assignments and tests, and the difference between assessment and grading.
Faculty Resource on Grading (University of Washington)
Collection of resources for UW faculty with many valuable links to grading materials and ideas.
Grading Student Work (Vanderbilt University)
Defines grading and offers resources for creating grading criteria, providing meaningful feedback to students, and developing efficient grading practices.
Feedback on Student Learning (Yale University)
Extensive resources covering types of assessment, designing good multiple-choice questions, using rubrics, and considering anonymous surveys and blind grading.
Grading as Formative and Summative Feedback
Measuring Student Learning (Cornell University)
Strategies for designing both formal and informal assessments that show student learning.
Evaluate Course-Level Learning (University of California Berkeley)
Deep dive into formative and summative assessment strategies.
Formative and Summative Assessments (Yale University)
Recommendations for using formative and summative feedback.
Holly Fiock & Heather Garcia, How to Give Your Students Better Feedback with Technology, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Kelvin H. K. Tan & Michael Prosser, (2004) Qualitatively Different Ways of Differentiating Student Achievement: A Phenomenographic Study of Academics’ Conceptions of Grade Descriptors, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 29(3) ,267-282.
Beatrice Lok, Carmel McNaught, & Kenneth Young (2016) Criterion-Referenced and Norm-Referenced Assessments: Compatibility and Complementarity, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 41(3), 450-465.
Chris McMorran, Kiruthika Ragupathi, & Simei Luo (2017) Assessment and Learning Without Grades? Motivations and Concerns with Implementing Gradeless Learning in Higher Education, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(3), 361-377.
Mike Brilleslyper, et al, (2012), What's The Point? The Benefits of Grading Without Points, PRIMUS, 22(5), 411-427.
Establishing Grading Criteria Using Learning Objectives
Grading Criteria and Rubrics (Brown University)
Collects resources for developing rubrics and thinking about rating scales.
Why Should Assessments, Learning Objectives, and Instructional Strategies Be Aligned? (Carnegie Mellon University)
Lists types of assessments that align with each level of Bloom's taxonomy of learning.
Designing Backward (Georgetown University)
Articulates the three stage process of designing a course or assignment by starting with learning objectives, identifying how to collect evidence of teaching, and then designing course activities.
Designing Courses Backwards (Stanford University)
Quick overview of the backward design process.
Understanding by Design (Vanderbilt University)
Comprehensive resources for understanding the value of and implementing backward design.
Designing and Using Grading Rubrics 
Designing Grading Rubrics (Brown University)
Step-by-step process for creating an effective, fair, and efficient grading rubric.
Creating and Using Rubrics (Carnegie Mellon University)
Explores the basics of rubric design along with multiple examples for grading different types of assignments.
Using Rubrics (Cornell University)
Argument for the value of rubrics to support student learning.
Strategies for Fair and Conflict-Free Grading (Stanford University)
Suggestions for creating, articulating, and using a grading plan. Larger section also has excellent resources for designing a range of grading opportunities.
Rubrics (University of California Berkeley)
Shares "fun facts" about rubrics, and links the rubric guidelines from many higher ed organizations such as the AAC&U.
Creating and Using Rubrics (Yale University)
Introduces different styles of rubrics and ways to decide what style to use given your course's learning goals.
Deborah Allen & Kimberly Tanner (2006). Rubrics: Tools for Making Learning Goals and Evaluation Criteria Explicit for Both Teachers and Learners. CBE Life Sciences Education, 5(3), 197-203.
Designing Effective Tests and Assessments
Asking Good Test Questions (Cornell University)
Brief resource that "defines" characteristics of good test questions.
Alternatives to Traditional Tests (University of California Berkeley)
An interesting collection of assessment strategies other than tests that provide evidence of learning in different ways.
Best Practices for Designing and Grading Exams (University of Michigan)
Identifies four criteria for designing valid and reliable test instruments - valid, reliable, recognizable, and realistic.
Grading with Integrity (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Discussion of the purpose of grades and maintaining consistent standards more broadly.
Designing Quality Multiple-Choice Questions (Yale University)
Detailed resource that breaks down the components of a good multiple-choice questions and offers annotated examples.
Blind Grading (Yale University)
Explores ways to limit implicit bias when grading by removing student-identifying information.
Niva Wengrowicz, Yehudit Judy Dori, & Dov Dori, (2017). Meta-Assessment in a Project-Based Systems Engineering Course, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(4), 607-624.
John C. Bean & Dean Peterson, Grading Classroom Participation
Growing out of a study at Seattle University, Bean and Peterson discuss different models for overcoming problems associated with grading participation.
Tony Docan-Morgan, (2015), The Participation Log: Assessing Students' Classroom Participation, Assessment Update,
In this quick read, Docan-Moran details his grading practice using student-kept participation logs.
David Gooblar, (2016), ISO: A Better Way to Evaluate Student Participation
In this essay, Gooblar exploring the complexities of assessing student participation with links to alternative practices.
David Gooblar, (2014), The Power of Interim Participation Grades
Gooblar discusses the value of providing students with participation grades every two weeks rather than summatively.
Kathryn R. Krohn, et al, (2010), Effects of Self-Recording and Contingent Credit on Balancing Participation Across Students, Journal of Behavioral Education, 2010.
Study explores what happens when students self-record participation grades and if the act of recording encourages more balance across students in the course.
Discussing Collaboration (Boise State University)
List of key questions to ask yourself when developing a collaboration policy.
Collaboration (MIT)
Resource for students on how to read the syllabus for collaboration guidelines, also includes several sample policy statements.
Managing Grading (University of Denver)
Quick tips for using grading as a pedagogical practice.
Policies that Focus on Collaboration (University of Pennsylvania)
Sample policy statements informing students of appropriate collaboration guidelines for a course.
Grading Issues Related to Conduct (University of Washington)
Advice for grading students based on their mastery of content rather than their conduct (e.g. attendance, participation, late assignments) when appropriate.
Differing Perspectives on Grading
Susan D. Blum (2017), Ungrading, Inside Higher Ed
Blum explores how grading practices can negatively effect learning, or hypothesizes alternatives.
Samuel D. Downs. (2015). Testing in the College Classroom: Do Testing and Feedback Influence Grades Throughout an Entire Semester? Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 1(2), 172–181.
Alfie Kohn (1995), Punished by Rewards? Educational Leadership.
Alfie Kohn (2011), The Case Against Grades, Educational Leadership.
Charles D. McAllister, Xiaoyue Jiang & Fereydoun Aghazadeh (2008), Analysis of Engineering Discipline Grade Trends, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(2), 167-178.
Linda B. Nilson (2015), The Need for a New Grading System, from Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time.
Jeffrey Schinske & Kimberly Tanner (2014), Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently). CBE life sciences education, 13(2), 159–166.
Jessie Stommel (2020), Ungrading: An FAQ.
Beckie Supiano (2019), Grades Can Hinder Learning: What Should Professors Use Instead? The Chronicle of Higher Education
Deep dive into alternatives to traditional grading such as self-evaluation and portfolios.
Books on Grading and Assessment
Joe Feldman, (2019), Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Classrooms
Feldman shows how traditional grading can be strengthened when accounting for accuracy of the scale, bias resistance, and motivation.
James M. Lang, (2013) Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty
Using extensive cognitive research, Lang discusses how some tacit aspects of higher education encourage cheating, and how these can be addressed, in part, by different grading practices.
Linda B. Nilson, (2013), Creating Self-Regulated Learners: Strategies to Strengthen Students' Self-Awareness and Learning Skills
Nilson offers a variety of activities and exercises to encourage students to monitor their own learning as well as advice to instructors for implementing the suggestions.
Linda B. Nilson, (2015), Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time
Nilson reviews the process of "spec grading" which allows students to choose their own level of achievement based on course learning outcomes.
Barbara E. Walvoord & Virginia Johnson Anderson, (2010), Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment in College. 2nd edition.
Walvoord and Anderson identify way sot closely aligned grading practices with course learning objectives and using grading as a learning tool, not just a summative assessment.