Specifications Grading Is an Effective Approach to Teaching Biochemistry

Specifications grading is a relatively recent approach to assessing student learning. In this approach, students make progress toward completion of a course by demonstrating mastery of specific skills or material. The assessment tools are short, frequent exercises that can be attempted multiple times until mastered. This contrasts with the traditional, exam-based assessment of student learning. There are multiple benefits to the specifications grading-based strategy, including reduced test anxiety, better knowledge retention, and increased flexibility. In this study, specifications grading was implemented into an upper-level biochemistry course at a private, liberal arts university. The student cohort consisted almost exclusively of junior and senior biochemistry, biology, and chemistry majors. Students earned points for demonstrating mastery on each of 12 short quizzes in addition to points earned from laboratory exercises and on the cumulative final exam. Student attitudes were assessed using three surveys that were administered at the beginning, middle, and end of the course. The survey results indicated that the students had overall favorable opinions of the specifications grading approach and its use in this course. A comparison of student performance on the quizzes to their performance on the final exam showed that the students learned and retained the course material. Combining the survey and performance data, we demonstrated that the students’ perceptions of their learning correlated well with their performances on the specifications grading tools. Together, these results indicated that specifications grading is an effective approach to assessing student learning and to maintaining student enthusiasm in an upper-level biochemistry course.