Holistic Grading of Written Work in Introductory Psychology: Reliability, Validity, and Efficiency
- 1 April 1991
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Teaching of Psychology
- Vol. 18 (2) , 91-94
- https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top1802_5
Abstract
Written assignments in large classes can be made practical by the use of holistic scoring. Data are presented to show the reliability, validity, and efficiency of adapting holistic scoring to written work in an introductory psychology course in which the grading was done entirely by a teaching assistant (TA). Separate criteria were used to score the content and writing skill of paragraph-length essay-test answers and short-paper assignments, Judgments of writing skill made by psychology TAs using holistic criteria were reliable and compared favorably with writing-skill judgments made by experienced English composition instructors. We conclude that holistic scoring is a high-quality, low-cost approach to scoring written work in large classes.Keywords
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