Rewarding Practice: An Alternative Grading System

Abstract

My first professional teaching responsibility was an introductory statistics class and I wanted to demonstrate my competence as a teacher. However, a majority of the students had a strong fear of this un familiar, required course and had postponed it until the end of their undergraduate program. Thus they typical ly would not attempt even the simplest statistical prob lems voluntarily. Extensive practice was essential for them accurately to assess and develop their skills. Forc ing such practice through graded homework and quizzes heightened their anxiety without significantly improving performance or willingness to practice. My solution to this problem was to award a grade merely for practicing skills, independent of the quality of that practice. I constructed several problem sets. I awarded full credit to students who submitted answers to all of the questions on a problem set and, later, dis cussed their answers within a randomly assigned three person group. After the small group discussions, I pro vided correct answers and responded to questions. Stu dent reaction to this system was extremely positive. They began to attempt new problems, ask for additional problem sets, and volunteer more often in class. In short, both their skills and their confidence improved dramatically. Most students performed quite well on the final exam, which was graded on the quality of their performance. Subsequent experiences with similar systems in other classes have been uniformly positive. As a result, I have modified my grading systems to reorient students toward activities more conducive to