Assessing Using Grade-related Criteria: A single currency for universities?

Abstract

The main focus of this paper is assessment. It raises questions concerning the aims and purposes of testing and the means by which it is done. Assessment has four main roles: formative, to provide support for future learning; summative, to provide information about performance at the end of a course; certification, selecting by means of qualification; evaluative, a means by which stakeholders can judge the effectiveness of the system as a whole. For universities, the different roles of assessment can create tensions: awarding more first class degrees may indicate rising standards of teaching and learning or precisely the opposite. In the UK, universities have been criticised for not having marking and grading systems that are robust, whilst evidence from the Higher Education Statistics Agency revealed the number of first class honours degrees awarded in UK universities ranged from 21.1% in mathematical sciences to 4.1% in business and administrative studies and 3.7% in law. Even within institutions there is also a considerable variation in degree classification, which appears to have little relationship to any measure of input. Furthermore, evidence based on analysis of modular degree schemes in the UK indicates that there is considerable variation in the formulae that are used to award honours degrees even within a single university. This paper will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a grade-related criterion common grading scheme using data obtained from staff and students at one UK university and examine the implications of such a scheme for the maintenance and enhancement of standards.