ABSTRACT
Like almost any behavior we might name, grading approaches can be conceptualized as occurring along several different continua. The continuum I find most helpful for thinking about grading approaches looks like the one below, with analytic grading at one end of the spectrum and holistic grading at the other end:
Analytic approaches to grading compare a piece of student writing to a list of criteria that describe an ideal piece of writing; holistic approaches compare a piece of student writing to other pieces of student writing from the same assignment. Blended approaches compare a piece of student writing both to a list of criteria and to other pieces of student writing.
