Date of Presentation

7-11-2014

Name of Conference

American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese

Date of Conference

7-2014

Location of Conference

Panama City, Panama

Document Type

Conference Presentation

Department

Modern Languages and Literatures

Abstract

We’ve all heard the phrase “an A for effort,” but what exactly does that mean? What effect do effort-based grades such as participation and pass/fail homework have on students’ final grades? I argue that many instructors inadvertently inflate students’ final grades through the grading scale set forth in the course syllabus. The higher the ratio of effort-based grades with respect to performance-based grades, the more inflated students’ final grades become. Furthermore, effort-based grades have the biggest impact on students with the lowest performance-based grades.

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