BACKGROUND: Students expect consistent and fair grading. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate reliability of an undergraduate clinical performance grading rubric. METHOD: The rubric was tested for measures of reliability and consistency. Formative and summative measures were compared. Written assignments were compared with clinical performance. A convenience sample of 58 first-semester clinical undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students was used. RESULTS: Significance was found between midterm (M = .89) and final performance (M = .94; t[57] = -15.896; p ⩽ .001, two-tailed) showing an increase in final performance. No correlation was found between final written work and performance evaluations (r[56] = .164, p ⩾ .05), and a significant difference was noted between written work (M = .973) and performance evaluations (M = .915; t[114]) = 14.536, p ⩽ .001). Cronbach's alpha scores equaled .917. All clinical instructors agreed that the results accurately measured student performance. CONCLUSION: Use of the grading rubric was effective in measuring student clinical performance and provided an objective grade calculation for any level student. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(9):544-548.]. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.
BACKGROUND: Students expect consistent and fair grading. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate reliability of an undergraduate clinical performance grading rubric. METHOD: The rubric was tested for measures of reliability and consistency. Formative and summative measures were compared. Written assignments were compared with clinical performance. A convenience sample of 58 first-semester clinical undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students was used. RESULTS: Significance was found between midterm (M = .89) and final performance (M = .94; t[57] = -15.896; p ⩽ .001, two-tailed) showing an increase in final performance. No correlation was found between final written work and performance evaluations (r[56] = .164, p ⩾ .05), and a significant difference was noted between written work (M = .973) and performance evaluations (M = .915; t[114]) = 14.536, p ⩽ .001). Cronbach's alpha scores equaled .917. All clinical instructors agreed that the results accurately measured student performance. CONCLUSION: Use of the grading rubric was effective in measuring student clinical performance and provided an objective grade calculation for any level student. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(9):544-548.]. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.