Re: Concerned About Grades (criteria based grading)

[Joel Rauber <Joel_Rauber@SDSTATE.EDU>]

Dan M gave an excellent and even handed (despite an admitted bias) account
criteria based grading Vs. Norm based grading.  Which I won't repeat.

> Most instructors in fact do both of these, sometimes on the
> same test by
> weighting basic skills such that a pass indicates competency while
> normative
> grades are awarded beyond competency (E.g. - this question
> separated my
> A's from B's on this exam).

I'd add that *all* instructors do both implicitly!  (Here I mean, in
academic instruction, as opposed to certain types of skill based
professional instruction; e.g. CPR training).

> To add to the confusion, some instructors
> don't actively discriminate between these kinds of grading.

Partly (not entirely), this is because its impossible to absolutely
distinguish the two.

Even if you think you are doing pure criteria based grading, I'd like to
know how you chose the criteria; and I'd bet that your criteria were based
at least in part somewhat on normative issues.  I don't quite see how you
can avoid it.

> Personally I'd like to see teachers undertake criterion-based grading,
> with as many repeats as desired to qualify them well.
>
> Too much already from
>
> Dan M
Even way way way too much already from


Joel Rauber
Joel_Rauber@sdstate.edu



> Dan MacIsaac, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy,
> Northern AZ
> Univ
> danmac@nau.edu          http://purcell.phy.nau.edu         PHYS-L list
> owner