From the New Common Syllabus:

Hints for grading to the guidelines:

·        do not make attendance and participation worth 10% of a course grade:  on a 100 point scale, that allows non-writing to change an entire letter grade.  Make attendance and participation worth no more than 5% of the grade.

·         leverage students’ interest in grades:  students in ENG 1020 are often motivated by grades (so make ‘em work).

·         make assignments challenging:  if assignments are too easy, especially at the beginning of the term, you may find yourself giving too many As and Bs that have the cumulative effect of an inflated course grade.

·         make the later and longer papers the most heavily weighted assignments:  by the time students write their 8-10 page papers in the second half of the course, they will be experienced writers in the context of the class, and they will be familiar with the level of work required for an A, B, or C paper.

·         grade conservatively at the beginning of the course:  this gives you room to use the entire grading scale as the term goes on, especially for the later papers. 

·         read through an entire set of papers before beginning to grade individual papers:  you will see the variation in the set and get an intuitive idea of how the range of grades – A, B, C=/C, C-/D/F can be applied.

·         grade with a rubric:  rubrics help establish the focus and consistency of letter grading.

·         don’t allow rewrites after final grades on an assignment:  incorporating revision within the context and process of an assignment teaches students valuable skills of providing and responding to feedback, which is an essential part of the writing process.  Rewriting solely for a grade is artificial revision, and it risks grade inflation.