Grading styles and disciplinary expertise: The mediating role of the teacher’s perception of the subject matter

Based on a sample of 312 high school teachers who participated in the Israeli PISA assessment of student academic achievement in 2002, the current study examines the mediatory role of their perception of the subject matter (as “open/flexible” or “closed/hierarchical”) in the relation between their disciplinary expertise (language, mathematics or science) and their grading style (performance-output or effort-input). The mediation hypothesis was completely supported for all disciplines in the case of perception of subject matter as open/flexible. With respect to the closed/hierarchical perception, it was supported only for the comparison of science vs. mathematics.

► Grading styles are complex evaluations involving weighted distribution rules. ► Definition of two major grading styles which recur across disciplines. ► Teachers actively structure their perceptions about subject matter. ► Subject matter perception mediates disciplinary expertise and grading style.