If you want to measure improvement in addition to mastery that is yet another good argument for focusing more on the final scores than in the earlier grades. O

If you want to measure improvement in addition to mastery that is yet another good argument for focusing more on the final scores than in the earlier grades. One student gets 30%, 60%, 90%, and 100% on a series of four cumulative projects throughout the semester while another student consistently gets 70% on all four. I would argue that the former likely has greater mastery and certainly has learned more during the semester. If you want to make sure those two things (mastery and learning ability) are measured by the final grade you need to use some method that de-emphasizes the earlier grades.