There is still time to register to RECONNECT through the virtual sessions of the CSU Symposium on Teaching and Learning taking place from 9:00am to 4:00pm on Friday, March 1! 

Registration for the virtual sessions is $10 and will remain open until 5pm on Wednesday, February 28. 

Cassandra Paul of San José State University will deliver the keynote on Equitable Grading Research & Practice in Higher Education on Friday, March 1, from 12:15pm-1:30pm (details below). 

Choose from among 36 concurrent sessions, on topics related to culturally responsive pedagogies, student engagement and belonging, (Emerging) technologies as tools for learning, and Inclusive learning assessment and outcomes might also be of interest. The agenda can be viewed here. 

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Keynote on Friday, March 1, 12:15pm-1:30pm

Equitable Grading Research & Practice in Higher Education

Cassandra Paul, PhD, Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Science Education

In higher education, the role of grades is paramount. Students enroll in courses, and the grade that they receive in each course communicates to the institution the degree to which the student was successful. Passing grades indicate that students are successful and they are able to continue on to more advanced courses in the same topical area. Enough poor grades can cause a student to fail a course and, as a function of the individual university, this can in turn affect the student’s time-to-degree, their retention in a major, or even in their retention in college itself. However, despite its importance, many faculty receive little to no instruction on how to assign grades. We will consider four different grading strategies that have been shown to decrease equity gaps in STEM classrooms: revise/retake options; minimum grading/4.0 scale; ungrading; and course component weighting. We will review some research behind each of these options, their effect on different students, and some practical ideas for how to implement them in your classroom. As we RECONNECT at this Symposium on Teaching and Learning, reimagining grading in our own classrooms is one way we can unite to work towards the ambitious goals of CSU’s Graduation Initiative 2025: increasing graduation rates for all CSU students while eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps.