ABSTRACT
This paper explores the potential of incorporating constructs of distributive justice and procedural justice into summative assessment of student learning in higher education. I systematically compare the process used by managers to evaluate employee performance in organizations – performance appraisal (PA) – with processes used by professors to assess student learning in academe. These procedures are remarkably similar in terms of objectives to facilitate and measure performance/learning, criteria for defining desired performance/learning, the procedures used by raters to evaluate performance/learning, and the procedure used by employees and students to assess fairness of their PA/grades. I then summarize empirical research regarding distributive justice (DJ) and procedural justice (PJ) in organizations. Finally, I posit how positive attitudes and behaviors associated with DJ and PJ in organizations might transfer to benefit students, professors, administrators, and universities in academe.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.