Do you want your students to engage in an authentic activity, but want to keep the stakes low to focus on practice and learning? Are you struggling to motivate your students to devote their time and make a genuine effort without a substantial assignment grade? A pass/fail assignment might be worth considering!
Pass/fail assignments can:
- take on many forms including interactive case studies or quizzes to gauge students’ understanding of the material and concepts
- be used for purposes of formative and self-assessment of learning, but should comprise no more than 5% of the overall course grade
When students’ responses show evidence of a good faith effort to accurately complete the assignment, they receive 100% credit for completion. If student responses indicate that the assignment was completed in haste or without careful consideration of the related course content, they receive 0% credit.
This table shows how a pass/fail assessment rubric could look.
| Criterion | Pass | Fail | Fail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality Completion | The assignment was completed on time and student responses show evidence of a good faith effort to accurately complete the assignment. (5 points) | The assignment was completed on time, but student responses indicate that the assignment was completed in haste or without careful consideration of the related course content. (0 points) | The assignment is incomplete or was not completed on time. (0 points) |
If you want to go more in depth with your pass/fail grading, a nuanced pass/fail assessment rubric can be used to support mastery learning, an instructional approach in which students must fully and completely accomplish the current course learning objective(s) before advancing to the next level of learning objectives. The mastery learning cycle, which has been shown to increase students’ feelings of responsibility for learning, requires direct instruction, study or practice, formative assessment, and corrective instruction until the designated learning objectives are achieved (Bouchrika, 2021).
Nuanced pass/fail assessment rubric characteristics:
- include direct instruction and study or practice opportunities
- are provided for the entire class
- is used following the study or practice assignment to provide formative feedback for all students
This table shows how a nuanced pass/fail assessment rubric could look.
| Criterion | Pass | Pending | Fail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mastery of Assignment Learning Objectives | The assignment was completed on time and student responses show evidence that the assignment’s learning objective(s) have been mastered. (5 points) | The assignment was completed on time, but student responses indicate that the assignment’s learning objectives have not yet been mastered. (0 points) | The assignment is incomplete, was not completed on time, and/or student responses do not show evidence of mastery. (0 points) |
The majority of time is devoted to students who have not yet mastered the assignment learning objectives. For students assessed as pending, meaningful instructional feedback in the form of instructor comments provides the information and impetus students need to persist toward mastery. Wiggins (2012) described meaningful instructional feedback as goal-referenced, tangible and transparent, actionable, user-friendly, timely, ongoing, and consistent. Equipped with meaningful instructional feedback about their first attempt, these students are given a second opportunity to complete the assignment and master the learning objectives to achieve a passing grade.
Resources
Bouchrika, I. (2021, June 10). What is mastery learning model? Definition, principles, and examples. Research.com. https://research.com/education/what-is-mastery-learning
Wiggins, G. (2012, September 1). Seven keys to effective feedback. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/seven-keys-to-effective-feedback
Adapted from
Jana Hunzicker, Ed.D.
Professor, Department of Education, Counseling, and Leadership
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Education and Health Sciences
Bradley University, Peoria, IL