The impact of multiple grading scheme options on student test performance in college economics courses: empirical evidence from Taiwan

Abstract

This study exploits an experimental opportunity to understand whether or not the introduction of multiple grading scheme options enhance college student learning and test performance in a Principles of Economics course. The econometric findings, based on a sample of students enrolled in the Principles of Economics course at Shih Hsin University, Taiwan in the second semester of the 2008 academic year, offer evidence that the availability of the multiple grading scheme options provides a positive effect on student test performance, particularly among the low midterm score students. The two grading scheme options significantly increase the average score in the final examination by 15.65 points among the poor midterm performance students. The results of this study suggest that the adoption of more flexible ways of assigning grades provides motivations for the poor midterm performance students not to give up and to study harder in the second-half of the course.