Understanding How Specifications Grading Affects Students’ Mindsets in General Chemistry I

Specifications, or specs, grading has become more popular in recent years for postsecondary chemical educators as an alternative to points-based grading systems. There are a number of publications on the implementation of specs grading systems with data from these publications often focusing on grade distributions and qualitative feedback from instructors and students. We have previously published a specs grading system in General Chemistry and upper division courses, but we wanted to better understand if the grading system was more effective at promoting positive student learning outcomes, as compared to traditional grading. In the current study, we deployed three previously published instruments to assess student mindset in a General Chemistry I course. The Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS) captures students’ perceptions of assessment anxiety, the Stress Mindset Measure (SMM) measures healthy stress mindset (viewing stress in ways that emphasize its benefits for the individual experiencing stress), and the Perceptions of Grading Scales (PGS) instrument compares perceptions of the specs grading system to traditional grading systems. We found that the students’ assessment anxiety decreased significantly (CTAS average of 72.82 at the beginning of term to 67.34 at the end of the term) in the specs grading system, while it remained statistically unchanged for other STEM courses (CTAS average of 72.25 at the beginning of term to 71.24 at the end of the term). This was coupled with students improving their healthy stress mindset in all STEM classes across the term. It was also found that the specs grading system promoted student motivation to learn more than a traditionally graded course according to the PGS instrument (standardized factor score of 0.15 with 95% confidence interval above 0). These results, and how they can be used to better understand and improve specs grading systems, are discussed.