What variables d o secondary teachers use t o assign grades? What is the relationship between classroom assessment practices and grading? 1s the form of classroom assessment related to grade level, subject area, and student ability? James H. McMillan is a Professor at the School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth UniversiCy, Box 84.2020, Richmond, VA 23284-2020. His specializations are educational research, educational measurement, and classroom assessment.
Teacher assessment decision making is described a s a process that may be important in developing a measurement theory for classroom assessment. Teacher beliefs and values about what and how to assess often conflict with the pressures of external demands, especially recent high-stakes large-scale testing. With this sense of tension, teachers make assessment decisions that will engage and motivate students and enhance learning. Implications f o r a measurement theory of classroom assessment, as well a s teacher preservice and inservice, are explored. The article suggests that measurement specialists need to adapt technical testing principles to be more relevant to the nature of classroom assessment decision making.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.