please note that empirical means "relying on observation or experiment; guided by
experience rather than theory." i had always understood that a single observation was
by definition empirical???
and then, how exactly can a reference be itself empirical if what one observes is a
description of observation/s of event/s?
Michael Atherton wrote:
> Muriel Strand wrote:
>
> snip
> (besides your "evidence" looks much more anecdotal than empirical).
>
> > evidence that non-use of grades may have a beneficial side:
> >
> > antioch (at one time and perhaps still) has had an open-file policy, such that
> > any student who didn't like the grade they got in a course could simply remove
> > from their file the record of that course (grade & credit). this does not seem
> > to have affected the school's reputation adversely, that i am aware of.
> >
> > not taking grades too seriously allows one to learn out of interest, which tends
> > to lead to better retention and recall, as i can personally attest.
>
> If you have some empirical references that show (in the general case) that
> eliminating grades significantly enhances student performance in universities
> I would be very interested.
>
no i have no such evidence. it strikes me that grading policy is not causally
sufficient to explain student performance.
>
> --
> http://www.tc.umn.edu/~athe0007
--
Any resemblance of any of the above opinions to anybody's official position is
completely coincidental.
Muriel Strand, P.E.
Air Resources Engineer
CA Air Resources Board
2020 L Street
Sacramento, CA 59814
916-324-9661
916-327-8524 (fax)
www.arb.ca.gov
