What is assessed gets attention: what is not assessed does not. When higher education is expected to promote complex achievements in subject disciplines and in terms of 'employability', problems arise: how are such achievements to be assessed? In the first part, Knight and Yorke argue that existing grading practices cannot cope with the expectations laid upon them, while the potential of formative assessment for the support of learning is not fully realised. Improving the effectiveness of assessment depends, they claim, on a well-grounded appreciation of what assessment is and what may and may not be expected of it. The second part is about summative judgements for high-stakes purposes. Using established measurement theory, a view is developed of the conditions under which affordable, useful, valid and reliable summative judgements can be made. A conclusion is that many complex achievements resist high-stakes assessment, which directs attention to low-stakes, essentially formative, alternatives. Assessment for learning and employability demands more than module-level changes to assessment methods. The final part discusses how institutions need to respond in policy terms to the challenges that have been posed. This book has wide and practical relevance - to teachers, module and programme leaders, higher education managers and quality enhancement specialists.

Assessment Learning and Employability

Business & Money

Knight, Peter

Yorke, Mantz

Job Hunting & Careers

Open University Press

Issues of retention and student success are now topics of great interest. Government and the HE sector have woken up to the implications for public finance and equity of students not completing their studies. Core reading for policy makers, higher education managers, and lecturers.

Retention and Student Success in Higher Education

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

What is the policy background to current interest in retention and student success? What causes students to leave institutions without completing their programmes? How can theory and research help institutions to encourage student success? Retention and completion rates are important measures of the performance of institutions and higher education systems. Understanding the causes of student non-completion is vital for an institution seeking to increase the chances of student success. The early chapters of this book discuss retention and student success from a public policy perspective. The later chapters concentrate on theory and research evidence, and on how these can inform institutional practices designed to enhance retention and success (particularly where students are enrolled from disadvantaged backgrounds). This book draws upon international experience, particularly from the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and the United States. "Retention and Student Success in Higher Education" is essential reading for lecturers, support staff, and senior managers in higher education institutions, and for those with a wider policy interest in these matters.

Retention & Student Success in Higher Education

Longden, Bernard

Higher & Continuing Education

Learning, Curriculum and Employability in Higher Education

How can universities ensure that they are preparing their students for today's competitive job market? This book tackles the highly topical subject of graduate underemployment with insight and clarity. The authors argue the case for more sophisticated research into employability with passion and vision, discussing how employability-friendly curricula can be developed, even in subjects which have less obvious vocational relevance. The rapid growth of higher education over the past fifty years has seen expectations increase, and governments seeking to widen participation. There is now an urgent need for the Government and higher education institutions to address the issue of graduate employability. The authors of this timely book encourage a pro-active stance, offering a ground-breaking model that can be easily implemented in institutions to make low-cost, high-gain improvements to students' employability. Topics covered include: * The challenge of employability * The study and careers of English graduates * The enhancement of practice * Assessing employability * The Skills Plus project. Based on a set of over 200 in-depth interviews with recent graduates, this book forms a unique account of the meanings of employability in the workplace.

Education & Reference

Routledge

A lot hangs on the summative grades that students are given. A good degree opens doors which otherwise might remain closed. Yet, as higher education is now a mass rather than an elite system, what is expected of its graduates is different from the expectations of previous generations. Students are expected not only to be able to demonstrate high standards of academic achievement, but also a variety of capabilities that have at different times been given labels such as ‘generic skills’ and ‘transferable skills’. These abilities are difficult to grade for a variety of reasons and some graduates may be losing out because their particular strengths are given insufficient acknowledgement in current summative assessment practices.Using the UK honours degree classifications as a case study, this book appraises the way in which summative assessment in higher education is approached and shows that the foundations of current practices (in the UK and elsewhere) are of questionable robustness. It argues that there is a need to widen the assessment frame if the breadth of valued student achievements is to be recognised adequately.

Grading Student Achievement in Higher Education: Signals and Shortcomings (Key Issues in Higher Education)

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Presents the findings of new research into the problem of students dropping-out from their courses, and provides information that will help institutions understand and address the problem. The book clarifies definitions of non-completion, looks at what influences students to leave early, assesses the implications for the institution's performance and the costs to the public purse. The analysis is illustrated by examples of student experience, and highlights courses of action that may help to reduce the problem.

Leaving Early: Undergraduate Non-completion in Higher Education

Presents the findings of new research into the problem of students dropping-out from their courses, and provides information that will help institutions understand and address the problem. The book clarifies definitions of non-completion, looks at what influences students to leave early, assesses the implications for the institution's performance and the costs to the public purse. The analysis is illustrated by examples of student experience, and highlights courses of action that may help to reduce the problem.

Perspectives on Academic Gaming and Simulation 6

Hollinshead, Betty

Nichols Pub. Co

Grading Student Achievement in Higher Education: Signals and Shortcomings

Leaving Early: Undergraduate Non-Completion in Higher Education

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Yorke, Mantz. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Yorke, Mantz

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Yorke, Mantz. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Assessment Learning and Employability

Retention and Student Success in Higher Education

Retention & Student Success in Higher Education

Learning, Curriculum and Employability in Higher Education

Grading Student Achievement in Higher Education: Signals and Shortcomings (Key Issues in Higher Education)

Leaving Early: Undergraduate Non-completion in Higher Education

Leaving Early: Undergraduate Non-completion in Higher Education

Perspectives on Academic Gaming and Simulation 6

Grading Student Achievement in Higher Education: Signals and Shortcomings

Leaving Early: Undergraduate Non-Completion in Higher Education