How Frequent Assessment Can Benefit URM Student Learning

Assessment is a key element in higher education courses to track student learning, but some forms of assessment can produce greater levels of stress for learners and are tied to inequitable learning.

A May 2024 Student Voice survey found 46 percent of students believe faculty members limiting high-stakes exams would help most to increase their academic success, the top response among 15 options. An additional 29 percent of students report it would be most helpful for faculty to replace exams with papers or projects utilizing class concepts.

Students also see a relationship between stressful test-taking and their mental health: 46 percent of students want professors to rethink exam schedules or limit high-stakes exams to promote their overall well-being, the most popular option out of a list of 12 possible actions that could make a difference.

A research project at the University of California, Riverside, seeks to restructure exams in general education courses to improve completion for underrepresented minority students through more frequent, shorter exams.

The initiative is part of a larger $700,000 National Science Foundation grant award to improve equity outcomes in STEM courses.

What’s the need: Research has shown that student degree attainment continues to be unequally distributed among racial groups, with Black and Latino youth who begin college in STEM majors being more likely to leave their programs before graduating than their white peers.

Women, racial minorities and individuals with disabilities are also less likely to hold STEM roles or to earn less compared to their majority peers.

Rethinking tests: The new model of assessment for general chemistry courses will be a mastery grading strategy, which focuses on students’ grasp of each concept before building to the next. Students are tested weekly, starting the second week of the term, on smaller units of material. Additionally, students can retake tests as needed on topics and subsequent exams will have different questions, allowing students to demonstrate growth.

“This approach will give students opportunities to demonstrate growth in learning rather than using a small number of high-stakes exams,” according to the NSF grant.

A pilot study at the university found 10-point improvement in performance across all student groups, and those who are often disadvantaged in traditional testing environments did just as well as their peers.

In addition to implementing mastery grading, the university also rolled out online course materials through the Open Learning Initiative, which could have impacted student outcomes.

What’s different: In addition to changing how exams are administered, researchers are interested in promoting a growth mindset among faculty members. Chemistry professors will participate in a training workshop that introduces them to the benefits of mastery grading, which, hopefully, will impact their perceptions of assessment.

“If we can shift the mindset from grades identifying the best students to grades showing mastery of content, we can help more students succeed without inflating grades,” said Jack Eichler, UCR chemistry professor and co-principal investigator on the grant, in a press release.

In addition to supporting UCR learners, researchers are partnering with the chemistry departments at two local community colleges, Mt. San Antonio College and Mt. San Jacinto College, to model effective interventions at other higher education STEM gateway courses.

“Higher education has a lot of inertia,” said Joshua Hartman, UCR chemistry professor and co-principal investigator, in the release. “But this approach isn’t about overhauling curriculum; it’s about rethinking assessment. That’s a lower barrier to implementation.”

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