Book/Student Grading

Grading generally means sorting, classifying examinees into classes according to some criteria. In education, grading is understood as an evaluation of student results. If we are working with a specific test that measures some knowledge or skill, we are looking for an objective, reproducible, and fair procedure to grade student performance on the test.

In this sense, grading is a continuation or rather an extension of standardization in the sense of setting the threshold for passing the test. The establishment of the grading scale, i.e. the setting of the relationship between the performance on the test and the grade level, is the only subjective element that enters into the entire testing process. Therefore, it should be given due attention.

Note: In the text devoted to the grading of student results on the test, we will limit ourselves to the discussion of closed-item tests with a choice of answers. The classification of other types of test items is discussed in the literature (e.g., or ).

In order to establish a relationship between test performance and grades, it is necessary to clarify what the task of the test should be. The reasoning is similar to choosing between relative or absolute cutoff scoring methods. So, we are considering whether to let the students compete with each other and classify them into “performance groups” by comparing them with each other, or if we grade according to the extent to which the student has achieved the target competencies.