Does Effort Still Count? More on What Makes the Grade

• Published in: Teaching of psychology Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 10 - 15
• Main Authors: Zinn, Tracy E., Magnotti, John F., Marchuk, Kimberly, Schultz, Bridget S., Luther, Andrew, Varfolomeeva, Veronika
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-01-2011; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Academic grading; College Faculty; College Students; Curricula; Educational Research; Feedback (Response); Grades (Scholastic); Grading; Higher education; Investigations; Measurement; Psychology; Student Attitudes; Students; Surveys; United States (Southeast); grading; college students; effort
• ISSN: 0098-6283; 1532-8023
• DOI: 10.1177/0098628310390907

Previous research has examined differences between students and faculty regarding the weight of effort in assigning grades. Here, students and faculty responded to questions regarding the relative weight of performance and effort on final grades and what letter grades faculty should assign across different types of courses. The authors asked these questions in 2 scenarios: (a) high effort, poor performance (students worked hard but performed poorly) and (b) low effort, high performance (students performed well but did not work hard). Results showed that, as in previous research, students and faculty differed in how they would assign grades, and students gave more weight to effort than faculty did. Students responded differently in low- and high-effort conditions, whereas faculty remained consistent in their assessments.