Recently one of our students who was a Hope Scholar (a high school student
with a B or better average upon graduation) was shocked to find himself
with a F in Trig and English. Even though his test grades average 62 prior
to the final he couldn't comprehend how he could have failed. His problem
was created on many levels -a high school that required little of him and
allowed him to think he was a Hope Scholar, a College Algebra teacher here
who adds 3 bonus points to a student's final grade for perfect attendance
and 10 bonus points on every test if they work 10 prepared review problems
for each test. Students are encouraged to get help from outside sources in
working these simple problems.
In other words, a 62 test average in his College Algebra class became a C
grade after the bonus points were added.
He couldn't understand how he could flunk English when he had done so much
writing in that class. The concept that the quality of the writing was
being evaluated seemed beyond him. To further add to his confusion I
watched his DC Circuit Analysis give him a C because he did his labs, even
though flunked all his tests.
When I have questioned how a student made a passing grade in a previous
math class I've recieved comments like "He/She promised to work really hard
in the next class so I passed them even though they hadn't really passed
this class" and " Even though they had a 30, 40 and 50 on their exams they
made a 60 on the final so I decided to give them a C." I've even had an
instructor say, "Our building was under construction and our class moved so
many times I didn't feel it was fair to give anyone a grade under a C."
It is easy to blame the K-12, but I'm afraid Post-secondary is becoming just
as guilty.
IN addition politics are making the problem worse. As I've said before - I
know our Tech school College Algebra is not COLLEGE Algebra, but because the
govenor has deemed it to be, the 4 year schools are being forced to accept
it as such.
On another topic - does anyone have cut-off scores for math placement using
the ASSET test or SAT? We don't feel we are getting the correct placement
with our correct cut-offs. To my knowledge they were arbitrarily set.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sharon Smith
Augusta Technical Institute
3116 Deans Bridge Road
Augusta, GA 30906
Math Instructor
Isa 43:1-3
email ssmith@augusta.tec.ga.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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