Contract grading entails a faculty member offering students a “menu” of assignments that are aligned with student learning outcomes. Students then choose a pre-determined number of these assignments they would like to attempt for a grade.
It is essential that contract menu grading be outlined clearly in the syllabus from the beginning of the course. This grading model could be effective when instructors envision myriad projects or assessment-types that would effectively demonstrate student learning.
Contract menu grading offers an alternative means of evaluating student work compared to the traditional A-F letter grade system. Because students are not required to complete all course assignments, they have more autonomy over the material they wish to explore further as well as the skills on which they would like to be evaluated. While not requisite to the contract grading model, student self-assessments and self-reflections are often submitted along with assignments, thereby providing the instructor with another means of assessment.
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