A Bridge to Specifications Grading in Second Semester General Chemistry

A Bridge to Specifications Grading in Second Semester General Chemistry

The development of equitable grading systems that provide students with effective feedback and provide instructors with an efficient means of assessment are of deep interest to chemical educators. A recent trend in chemical education, and STEM education more broadly, has been the use of specificatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of chemical education Vol. 100; no. 6; pp. 2159 - 2165
Main Authors: Noell, Sydney L., Rios Buza, Melissa, Roth, Elijah B., Young, Jennifer L., Drummond, Michael J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Easton American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc 13-06-2023
American Chemical Society
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Academic grading
Chemistry
Education
Feedback
Grading
Hybrid systems
Organic Chemistry
Recursion
Recursive methods
Specifications
STEM education
Student attitudes
Students
System effectiveness
Teachers
Teaching methods
Technical education
First-Year Undergraduate
General
Curriculum
Learning Theories
Assessment
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Summary:The development of equitable grading systems that provide students with effective feedback and provide instructors with an efficient means of assessment are of deep interest to chemical educators. A recent trend in chemical education, and STEM education more broadly, has been the use of specifications, or specs, grading that emphasizes mastery of material through recursive methods and standards-based grading. Students must meet certain standards in multiple specifications to earn a particular letter grade, as opposed to more traditional points-based grading systems. However, changing from a points-based grading system to specs grading requires significant effort by the instructor, especially in courses with an integrated lab component. In this manuscript we describe the development of a hybrid-specs grading system implemented in our second semester general chemistry course over the 2021–22 academic year. We describe the development of the hybrid-specs grading system, student performance as measured by shifts in letter grade distributions and final exam scores, and student perceptions of the new grading system. Notes for practitioners on the implementation of the grading system are in the Supporting Information. Finally, we also discuss improvements of the system for implementation in future courses.
ISSN:0021-9584
1938-1328
DOI:10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00731