Testing and Grading

Testing and grading in higher education have been debated since the early 1900s as educators have sought to identify the most effective assessment techniques. The assessment, or ‘testing’, provides evidence that stipulates whether a learner attained a specified level of understanding and mastery of a particular topic. At the end of an educational programme, educators use their professional judgement for the purpose of ‘grading’ learners, that is, they collect data related to the learners’ competencies in a particular topic by employing tests, exams, and a way to document the resultant outcome through a numeric percentage value that normally translates to an alphabetic grade.

Grades are typically spread over a normal distribution bell-shaped curve that assumes a few learners are top achievers, the majority are average, and ...