What does halo grading refer to?

Halo grading refers to the tendency to let a person's previous positive impressions, characteristics, or performances influence the way they are evaluated in subsequent assessments. In this context, when an educator has had prior positive experiences with a student, it can lead them to assign higher scores regardless of the student's current performance. This method can unintentionally introduce bias into the grading process, skewing the evaluation by allowing the educator's overall perception of the student to overshadow the specific work being assessed.

In contrast, scoring based solely on tests focuses strictly on the results from assessments without any influence from prior interactions. Grading done anonymously removes personal bias by not associating students with their assignments during evaluation, while allowing students to grade their own work introduces a subjective element that can lead to inflated scores as well. Halo grading, however, highlights the implications of prior relationships in influencing current evaluations.