- Title: Effects of Temporary Mark
Withholding on Academic
Performance - Authors: Kuepper-Ttzel and Gardner
- Access the original paper here
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Paper summary
This research paper investigates the impact of temporarily withholding grades on student academic performance and feedback engagement. Two experiments, one a randomized controlled trial and the other a quasi-experimental study, compared students who received feedback before grades to those who received grades first. The results consistently showed that delaying grade release led to improved performance on subsequent assessments, particularly for low-achieving students. This positive effect is linked to increased feedback engagement, although the precise mediating mechanisms require further exploration. The authors propose that this simple intervention could be a cost-effective method for enhancing student learning.
What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?
- Teachers could co-design the feedback process with students to further increase student appreciation for mark withholding and feedback engagement.
- Temporary mark withholding is a low-cost teaching practice that can easily be implemented by instructors.
- Teachers should openly discuss the rationale behind the approach, manage student expectations, and design short activities such as written reflection statements or questions about feedback. This can enhance student buy-in.
Quote
In conclusion, our findings show positive effects of temporary mark withholding on report performance in psychology for Year 2 and Year 3 students. This converging finding from two experiments is particularly compelling because it was: (a) revealed in an authentic educational setting that captured student learning as it unfolds; and (b) obtained by using different methodological approaches in each of the experiments.
