Abstract

The author addresses ethical issues involved in the assignment of grades and student evaluations in undergraduate courses. The author prescribes an ethical approach to grade assignment. Instructors, according to the author, should take into account various factors in grading assignment like the student's individual efforts, improvement throughout the course, the student’s general psychological state, and potential disadvantaged starting points in the educational process. Instead of basing grade assignments on judgments from arbitrary criteria or letting them be an expression of power, the author suggests incorporating the variability model into the practice of grade assignment. Proper grade assignment facilitates students to be more reflective on the instructor’s feedback and to develop the ability to evaluate their own work.