Paul Doniger asks:
 
>Does anyone out there give two separate sets of grades for a single piece of
>writing (a content grade and a grammar, et al grade) and leave them
>separate?  How would you use this kind of grading system in your classes?
>Does anyone see a benefit or a problem with this idea?
>
 
I would guess that everyone has at least tried that kind of system. I
certainly did but gave it up in favor of grading sheets that cover both
contents and mechanics and that allow me to say which areas of mechanics
the students may be weak in. However, one of my friends who teaches
secondary English still uses the dual-grade system with what he says is a
great deal of success.
 
Coincientally, I'm presently working on an article about paper-grading in a
new kind of accounting class that uses the case approach. The graders in
this case (TAs whose main job is grading papers) use the dual system; in
fact, for longer papers one TA grades for content and the other for
"writing skills." Their problem has been to decide how much to count each
part in the overall grade for the paper. They want to emphasize that
contents are more important, but they also want to have students take
writing skills seriously.
 
It's an interesting problem, but probably one with no completely
satisfactory solution. It seem that, unlike the situation in algebra, the
sum of all parts that one might grade in a paper never equals the whole.
This is why there will always be tension between holistic and analytic
grading.
 
Bill McCleary
 
William J. McCleary                     Editor: Composition Chronicle
Associate Prof. of English              Viceroy Publications
Coordinator of Secondary English        3247 Bronson Hill Road
SUNY at Cortland                        Livonia, NY 14487
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