Implicit bias is the unconscious bias that forms the assumptions that we make about students based on social identity; however, in education we can also form biases about our students based on past academic performance, perceived agreeableness, previous relationships, and even the stakes of the assignment or assessment (De Houwer, 2019). This unconscious bias affects how we think of and interact with students including when we are grading: “Put simply, bias in grading is giving different grades on student work of essentially equal quality, based on factors irrelevant to the scope and criteria for that work” (Hardré, 2014). This week’s teaching tips focus on avoiding bias in grading.
- Use Rubrics. Rubrics are scoring guides that provide specific and clear expectations for an assignment. They are used to evaluate many types of student work and include criteria for levels of achievement based on your course learning outcomes. Rubrics help avoid bias in grading because the criteria and achievement levels are linked in advance. For example, for a student to “meet expectations” on a given assignment, the criteria for that component must be evident in the assignment. Cornell University’s Center for Teaching Innovation highlights steps to take to get started with creating your own rubrics, and you can learn more about creating rubrics in Canvas (video) from ITS Learning Technology.
- Consider Learner Variability. The University of Denver’s Teaching and Learning Office suggests flexible assignments, grading strategies and inclusive approaches to address and minimize bias so that all students have the opportunity to demonstrate their learning. Incorporating Universal Design for Learning and focusing on summative assessments to evaluate student learning provides flexibility for students to choose their own assessments to be scored using a universal rubric. To read more, visit their website and review the additional resources. Enabling anonymous grading in Canvas (video) before grading assignments can minimize the possibility of grading biases like the “Halo Effect” and the “Anchor Effect.”
- Other Ways to Reduce Bias. How do you know your implicit biases are if they are unconscious? This short video from the New York Times suggests doing a personal audit or asking a friend to observe your behaviors. How are other professors minimizing grading bias? Howard Aldrich is the Kenan Professor of Sociology at UNC Chapel Hill. His website shares tips from the classroom about teaching and learning, student engagement and measuring student outcomes. Here are his top five ways to minimize grading bias:
- Grade assessments blindly.
- Prepare the answer key in advance.
- Use comments to justify the scores you give.
- Grade all responses for one question before moving to another question.
- Take breaks while grading.
Thank you to Shannon Barr of ITS Learning Technology and UTLC Graduate Assistant, Ebonie Lassiter, for their significant contributions to this week’s teaching tips.