Here's an interesting article from the ever-helpful site at Indiana. (I've posted several times about my use of their tutorial test [free!] that students must take and pass to indicate that they understand what constitutes plagiarism and that they'll be responsible for it if any is found....here's that website again: https://www.indiana.edu/~tedfrick/plagiarism/ )
Anyhow, here's the article I found, which credits Yale as being first to use a grading system to differentiate students. http://www.indiana.edu/~educy520/sec6342/week_07/durm93.pdf However, it seems that a scale of descriptive adjectives was used ("Optimi, Second Optimi..."), while the 4.0 scale was used at Yale beginning in 1813. The article states that the first numerical scale was used at Harvard, and included a scale of 20 (not 4). No mention of Scotland! Lots more interesting stuff in the article. Thanks for bringing up an interesting discussion point, John. Beth Benoit Plymouth State University Plymouth, NH On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 1:39 PM, John Kulig <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > Tipsters: > > Some time ago I recall reading something to the effect that our > 90/80/70/60 ABCD grading scheme originated with Scottish instructors who > brought it across the Atlantic in colonial times but I have not been able > to verify this or locate where I saw that. Does anybody know? When you > search online you get blogs like: > http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=587049 > > I talk about the issue of putting letter grades on numeric scales in my > measurement class after going over correction for guessing formulas, > optimal difficulty schemes (e.g. 62% = optimal for 4 choice multiple > choice, half way between chance and perfect) and so forth. I have tried > over the years to do grades as T scores, Z scores, and other schemes but > the 90/80/70 scheme seems so strongly engrained (here, at least) that I > have given up and say "add 8 points" to your grade and make sure the final > result is consist with my judgment. > > JK > > ========================== > John W. Kulig, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology > Coordinator, Psychology Honors > Plymouth State University > Plymouth NH 03264 > ========================== > > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aaf72&n=T&l=tips&o=30293 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-30293-13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aa...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > > > > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=30294 or send a blank email to leave-30294-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
