Hi Nancy and others,
Thank you for bringing up this important issue.
I think the key point being made by the department chair is students
need to be graded in their particular school relative to other students at
that school. Grades are then used to determine class rank. For a
hypothetical example, a student earning an "A-" in psychology at a
community college might only earn a "C" in psychology at a leading highly
selective enrollment research university for equivalent performance. When
one talks about "fairness" (whatever that means) it would seem fairer that
way than the other way... that is... at the school where students do
better, a student would probably get higher grades by being in your class
than another similar class taught by a different instructor. The answer
should not, however, be grading a 90% as a "C". It should be, instead,
teaching/examining more in depth at the school where students do better.
The argument that you seem to be making is that a psychology course
at one school is/should be identical to a psychology course at another
school and that you are using a common test, so that a student will get
the same grade taking a course that you teach no matter where you teach
it. I believe that coming up with this cross-school comparison is what
tests like SATs and GREs address.
I hope this point of view is helpful to you.
Ron
Dr. Ronald G. Shapiro
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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