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Re: Concerned about grades-long



Warning! Rampant intuition and gut reactions to follow. No evidence is
presented to prove any points.

Ok here we go.

Ideally...

1) What are grades? An indication of a student's mastery of a subject and,
to some extent, their effort level in classs.
2) Why do we give them? So that others (schools, employers, other
instructors) can judge the student's probable success at (school,
employment, other classes). Also, maybe as a motivation for students to
make an effort in our classes.
3) How are grades determined? By the teacher's assessing the performance of
each student on a series of tasks created (or at least selected) by the
teacher.

Practically
1) What are grades? An indication of a student's success at performing a
serious of tasks created (or at least selected) by the teacher. This
success is due to any or all of the following (and probably other things)
a) mastery of subject
b) effort
c) abilities in more or less auxiliary skills such as reading, writing,
doing calculations, working with other students, showing up to class, time
management, etc.
d) student motivation/interest
e) student's personal life and associated pressures



2) Why do we give them? So that others (schools, employers, other
instructors) can judge the student's probable success at (school,
employment, other classes) AND as a motivation for students to make an
effort in our classes AND so that others can judge our own success as teachers

3) How are grades determined?By the teacher's assessing the performance of
each student on a series of tasks where the assessment comes from..
a) a comparison to other student's performances on the same task (I think
this happens whether you're a bell curver or not, unless of course you just
mark everything absolutely right or wrong based on a very specific factor
such as the final answer. Most of us are more gray than that).
b) The teacher's personal bias and personal/professional life and
associated pressures (the degree that this applies here varies but I'm sure
none of us are completely immune)

Now for this whole grade inflation thingy.


Should grades in physics be, on average, about the same as grades in other
subjects?Depends. If you're teaching physics as part of a curriculum for a
major where students are unlikely to take any course of a similar nature
(like me), you would expect that students may not do as well since this is
their only experience with such a topic and they are probably just those
students who don't do as well in subjects like physics. If you're teaching
to students who are taking lots of courses along the same vein (such as
engineering and mathematics for example), doesn't seem like there would be
much difference.

Should every class have a prescribed number of A's, B's, etc? Doesn't seem
to make senese to me. I know I have classes that fluctuate in overall
ability. There have been classes where the "worst" students would be as
good or better as the average students in another. If I'm trying for
something resembling the ideal grading system, I'd be more concerned with
assessing each student based on mastery/effort not based on how everybody
else did. Iwould think, statistically speaking, there would be an average
around a C, but I would also think that the statistics would be rather weak
unless I'm talking about a fairly substantial number of students over time.

Are we deceiving the receipients of our students (employers, other schools
etc.) if grades are inflated or adjusted to fit those in other
subjects?Depends again. First of all, no one ought to be using grades as
the sole indication of probable success. This is especially true of
employers since "people skills" go a long way with them, but not
necessarily a long way towards good grades. It may not be as true for other
schools since what they define as success, at least at first, is good
grades. Although most institutions are concerned with placement rates,
future success of alumni, etc. too.

Given that, if I look at a transcript for a student and see mostly A's and
B's and a C or D in physics, I might think

a) They aren't very good at physics
b) Those other teachers most be soft unlike the physics teacher
c) Maybe the student had a bad day so to speak when he or she took physics
d) Didn't notice that physics was lower than the rest because I am
evaluating the overall success of the student (unless, of course, I am
hiring him or her to be a physicist or am admitting them to a physics
program).

If I look at a transcript for a student and their grade in physics is about
the same as other grades, I might think

a) They are really good at physics
b) That physics teacher most be soft
c) Didn't notice that physics was lower than the rest because I am
evaluating the overall success of the student (unless, of course, I am
hiring him or her to be a physicist or am admitting them to a physics
program).


For the record, in the past year I have had a class with an average of 50
(F in my book), one with an average of 81 (B) and one with an average of a
93 (A). All of them had about 25 students.


Allen Shotwell
Chair, Science and Math
Ivy Tech State College
Terre Haute, IN USA
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too
dark to read." - Groucho Marx