Yik Brandon J, Morkowchuk Lisa, Wheeler Lindsay B, Roksa Josipa, Machost Haleigh, Stains Marilyne
Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, United States.
Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, United States.
JACS Au. 2025 May 19;5(6):2593-2605. doi: 10.1021/jacsau.5c00210. eCollection 2025 Jun 23.
Specifications grading has been proposed as an alternative grading method to better promote student success over traditional grading schemes. Within the chemistry community, specifications grading has been growing in popularity over the past decade as demonstrated by the rise of publications and conference talks. While several studies describe shifts in the final grade distribution as a result of the implementation of specifications grading, no study explores the differential impact on students of different social identities. In this study, we analyze over 9700 final course grades of a year-long general chemistry laboratory course under both traditional and specifications grading schemes. Data are analyzed by individual student's social identities (i.e., gender, generation status, underrepresented minority status, and transfer student status) and students' intersectional identities. Our results are mixed and conflicting. More systemically minoritized students pass these courses with high grades under specifications grading, but opportunity gaps between systemically minoritized students and their systemically advantaged counterparts remain. The results of this implementation show that the impact of specifications grading on students is complex and that much still needs to be understood about students' experiences with different grading schemes and their impact.
规格评分法已被提议作为一种替代评分方法，以比传统评分方案更好地促进学生取得成功。在化学界，过去十年里规格评分法越来越受欢迎，出版物数量的增加和会议演讲的增多就证明了这一点。虽然有几项研究描述了由于实施规格评分法导致最终成绩分布的变化，但没有研究探讨对具有不同社会身份的学生的差异影响。在本研究中，我们分析了一门为期一年的普通化学实验室课程在传统评分方案和规格评分方案下的9700多个期末课程成绩。数据按学生的个人社会身份（即性别、代际状况、代表性不足的少数群体身份和转学生身份）以及学生的交叉身份进行分析。我们的结果好坏参半且相互矛盾。在规格评分法下，更多受到系统性边缘化的学生以高分通过这些课程，但系统性边缘化学生与其系统性优势对等学生之间的机会差距仍然存在。这一实施结果表明，规格评分法对学生的影响是复杂的，对于学生在不同评分方案下的经历及其影响仍有许多需要了解的地方。
