Date of Award

11-16-2006

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Sherryl A. Houdek

Abstract

Research has shown that the grades teachers assign to students have been increasing in value, whereas the achievement measured by the grades has remained the same. There is great variability reported in the current literature concerning the grading practices of teachers. There is no consensus about what grades should mean, what reference base should be used for comparability, or the extent to which the grades assigned should correlate with the students' performances on national achievement tests. The purpose of the study was to gather information about general education teachers' beliefs and values regarding the criteria that should be used in assigning a passing grade, techniques used for assigning grades, beliefs about the curriculum, and beliefs about what grades should represent. A questionnaire was designed and administered to 253 general education teachers in 10 school districts in north central North Dakota. A multivariate analysis of variance was used to investigate the differences across categories of teachers, including (a) teachers' level of education, (b) teachers' level of licensure, and (c) number of years of teaching experience. The results of the study consisted of an analysis of the beliefs and values reported by the teachers and the differences across groups of teachers. Teachers participating in this study demonstrated a consistent profile in their reported perceptions of their beliefs and values. A majority of the teachers held a bachelor degree (84%), had more than 10 years of teaching experience (65.3%), and were employed in rural school districts (100%). In those cases where there was a difference in the reported perceptions across teachers, the differences were attributable to the grade level of licensure or the number of years of teaching experience. There was no difference in the beliefs and values underlying the selection of the criteria for passing across any of the three independent variables. The greatest difference was found to be in the beliefs and values determining the techniques the teachers used for determining grades.

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