Reduced grading in assessment: A scoping review

Increasingly, educators are adopting reduced grading practices to enhance the desired or lessen the undesired aspects of assessment. This review traces the scholarly origins of reduced grading and maps research on the phenomenon. Using citation analysis and qualitative content analysis and drawing on a theory of action perspective, we explore how reduced grading is conceptualised in the literature. The citation analysis uncovered two clusters of publications: one investigating primary and secondary education and the other covering higher education. The content analysis revealed four categories: rationales, contextual conditions, implementation, and consequences of reduced grading. Supported by a variety of rationales, reduced grading has been conceptualised in various ways, and the research field is divided into two sub-domains. We discuss the implications of these results for practitioners and researchers.