Stuart,
Are you implying that a grade of 50% is passing at your institution?
I'm not interested in getting into any argument about appropriateness
of grading standards anywhere (since I have no idea about the details
of the testing and grading procedures at your institution). That is, I
realize that 50% can be quite impressive depending upon difficulty of
material. But it raises an interesting question in that it conveys to
students that knowing "half" the material is sufficient for a passing
grade. Do others have a similar policy?
Perhaps on a related note... I teach statistics at Cornell University
during the summer session. I typically give exams which are a bit more
challenging than the ones I have given at other institutions (because
the Cornell students perform very well indeed). I'm always a bit
tempted to "raise the bar" a bit given that the mean on the exams is
typically in the mid-high 80% range (or higher). On the other hand,
perhaps a statistics course should cover certain material and should
remain relatively the same no matter where one teaches it. I have been
teaching with the Gravetter & Wallnau text for almost 20 years now and
find that every semester I get through less because of the ever-eroding
competencies of my students. Would love to hear from others who teach
at multiple institutions of differing quality.
-S
On May 8, 2007, at 5:14 PM, Stuart McKelvie wrote:
Dear Tipsters,
I would not argue that the student should be given an A- in the
circumstances presented, particularly when 90% is the cutoff.
However, the case raises interesting questions about the precision of
our grading. If I had a final grade of 88.61% I would automatically
round it to 89%, just as a grade of 88.31% would become 88. Because we
actually give percentage grades at our institution, I am not faced
with the issue of granting an A- or a B. However, when someone obtains
49.61, I am faced with the question of whether to pass the student.
In these circumstances, and indeed whenever the final percentage is
above 48, I do review the components of the mark, particularly because
the maximum percentage based on multiple choice in my courses is 18%.
At the end of the course, the part of the student's work that I
usually have to hand is the final examination. I look over that to see
how I allocated points.
The general question is this:
When we calculate a final percentage grade, how reliable is it?
Another way of putting this is: What is the standard error of
measurement?
Sincerely,
Stuart
______________________________________________
Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D.,
Department of Psychology,
Bishop's University,
2600 College Street,
Sherbrooke,
Québec J1M 0C8,
Canada.
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Phone: (819)822-9600, Extension 2402
Fax: (819)822-9661
Bishop's Psychology Department Web Page:
http/:www.ubishops.ca/ccc/dev/soc/psy
__________________________________
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Utica College
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"Mice may be called large or small, and so may elephants, and it is
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the trunk of a small elephant" (S. S. Stevens, 1958)
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