As a new term begins, instructors are pulled in many directions: syllabus updates, lecture prep, LMS setup, and course communications. It is easy for assessment planning to become a “later” task. But how you design and sequence assessments now will shape student learning, trust in grading, and your own workload all term long.
This guide offers informed steps to help you start the term with a solid assessment plan and actually make grading more sustainable.
1. Begin With Learning Outcomes and Work Backward
Effective assessment starts with clarity: what should students know or be able to do by the end of the course?
The idea of backward design is now widely considered best practice: define outcomes first, then design assessments that directly measure those outcomes, and finally plan teaching activities to support them. A recent critical review of grading practices in higher education underscores that misalignment between outcomes, assessments, and grading criteria undermines fairness, equity, and learning for students.
When you begin planning your term, ask:
- Which assessments provide direct evidence for each learning outcome?
- Are any tasks “busy work” that do not map clearly to an outcome?
- Do your criteria and rubrics actually reflect the skills or knowledge you want to see?
A bit of alignment work now can pay off in clarity later, for both you and your students.
2. Build in Frequent, Formative Feedback
One of the most consistently powerful influences on student achievement is feedback. John Hattie’s synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses famously identified feedback as having a large positive impact on learning, with typical effect sizes around 0.7.
A more recent meta-analysis of 435 studies found that feedback interventions have a medium-to-large positive effect on student learning across achievement, motivation, and behavior
The takeaway for your planning:
- Consider scheduling at least one early, low-stakes assessment that gives you diagnostic insight and gives students usable feedback to improve..
- Ensure feedback is released before the next major assignment so students can act on it.
- Use rubrics and comment libraries to make high-quality feedback feasible at scale. Leveraging technology like Crowdmark further reduces administrative overhead, allowing instructors to focus their time and expertise on the feedback that matters.
3. Map Your Grading Workflow Before Assessments Launch
Assessment planning is not only about what you assess, but how you will grade it.
Research on computer-assisted grading rubrics shows that digital workflows can dramatically increase efficiency. In one study published in the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, computer-assisted rubrics were almost 200% faster than traditional hand grading without rubrics, more than 300% faster than hand grading with paper rubrics, and nearly 350% faster than typing feedback directly into an LMS.
Crucially, these gains do not reduce feedback quality; instead, they enable more specific, structured comments for students.
As you plan the term:
- Decide which assessments will use rubrics or comment libraries.
- Manage your team members prior to your first assessment and map who will grade what (you vs. TAs) and when.
- Reserve time for calibration, so everyone uses criteria consistently.
- Identify where digital grading tools can remove bottlenecks in scanning, distributing, and marking work.
A planned workflow can reduce instructor burnout and helps you keep feedback aligned and on time.
4. Design for Transparency and Student Trust
Students are more likely to view grading as fair and to stay engaged when expectations are transparent. Work on assessment literacy shows that when students see and discuss marking criteria and exemplars before submitting, they better understand quality and produce stronger work.
At the start of term, consider:
- Sharing rubrics and marking criteria in your syllabus or LMS.
- Walking through examples of an assignment in class and applying the rubric together.
- Explain how and when students will receive feedback, and what you expect them to do with it. With Crowdmark, feedback and grades are delivered directly to students electronically and stored securely, giving them ongoing access throughout the term to review, reflect, and study.
Transparent assessment design is also tied to academic integrity. When students perceive criteria and grading processes as clear and fair, they are less likely to rationalize misconduct.
5. Pace Assessments Across the Term
Without a plan, assessments tend to cluster: two midterms in the same week, multiple project deadlines at term end, and a crush of grading in the final days.
A balanced assessment calendar helps avoid those bottlenecks and supports learning. Spread out your major assessments and pair them with smaller, low-stakes tasks that give students feedback on the same skills.
When designing your calendar:
- Plot all major due dates and exams before classes begin.
- Check for internal “traffic jams” weeks where students face multiple high-stakes tasks in your course.
- Work backwards to schedule rubrics, exam creation, scanning (if using paper), and marking windows.
- Ensure you are not promising feedback turnaround faster than your workflow can support.
This kind of planning aligns with guidance from academic development units, which stress the importance of “assessment sequences” that create regular opportunities for feedback and reflection, not just end-point judgment.
6. Turn Your Plan into a Simple Checklist
To make planning actionable (and reusable next term), convert it into a checklist you can revisit and refine.
Before Week 1
- Learning outcomes mapped to each assessment you have planned in your course
- Assessment mix chosen (low-stakes, high-stakes, formative, summative)
- Rubrics and comment banks drafted when possible
- Assessment calendar built and shared with students
Weeks 1–2
- Rubrics and criteria explained in class
- Exemplar(s) discussed, with rubric applied collaboratively
- Academic integrity expectations clearly communicated, especially in the day of AI and ChatGPT
Throughout the Term
- Feedback released early enough to inform the next assignment
- TA or co-marker calibration maintained
- Bottlenecks in the workflow logged for future improvement
Conclusion
Starting the term with intentional assessment planning is one of the highest-leverage moves an instructor can make. Research shows that well-designed feedback has a substantial positive impact on student learning, and that structured, rubric-driven grading can cut marking time dramatically while improving feedback quality.
By aligning assessments with outcomes, planning your grading workflow, making expectations transparent, and pacing tasks across the term, you create a course where students know what success looks like and you have the tools and time to support them.