Michael Sylvester wrote:
> my current strategies to get students to attend classes
> regularly do not seem to be working,so I am toying with this
> idea for the next semester: I will only drop the lowest exam
> score for students with good attendance. Will this work?
It might--but why not simply _require_ good attendance?
In my syllabus, I specify that there is a definite attendance
policy in my classes. Since I normally teach 3 hour weekly classes (for
16 weeks), I allow for _some_ missed classes. If a student attends 14 or
more sections (i.e., misses no more than two), he or she receives an
"attendance bump" of 10 points (I grade on a 400 point scale, so that
can make the difference between, for example, a 3.5 and a 4.0 if the
student is close to the next higher grade). On the other hand, any
student who fails to attend a minimum of 12 sections (without legitimate
reason--i.e., a doctor's excuse, etc.) _cannot_ receive higher than a
1.5, regardless of points accumulated. The system seems to work
well--most students earn the 10 point bonus--and in the one case it was
challenged by a student (who missed well over the permitted 4 sections
and received a 1.5), the administration supported it completely.
The greatest drawback I can see with the system you suggest is
that it pretty much forces you to allow "make up" exams for students
with legitimate reasons not to have attended the day of the test. If, on
the other hand, you _always_ drop the low quiz, a student who misses an
exam simply takes that as his/her dropped score and no make-up is
needed.
Rick
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Rick Adams
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Social Sciences
Jackson Community College
Jackson, Michigan
". . . and the only measure of your worth and your deeds will be the
love you leave behind when you're gone." --Fred Small
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