To make an "A" you must do ALL of the following:
1. Make 90% or higher average on tests and quizzes.
2. Complete all of your journals to the specifications required by the
instructor.
3. Make 90% or higher on graded group work.
To make a "B" .........
etc.
You can make provisions for some averaging.
Another model is to put all points in the same basket, but put in a policy
that a student can make no more than one letter grade higher than the grade
average on tests and quizzes.
Martha
-----Original Message-----
From: John M. Flanigan <johnf@HAWAII.EDU>
To: Bret Taylor <bret@IAG.NET>
Cc: mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu <mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu>
Date: Wednesday, February 17, 1999 10:03 PM
Subject: Re: [MATHEDCC] Philosophical discussion
>Sure. I think everyone I know has noticed it, dispises it--and uses it. We
>can tell, can't we?, to a reasonable degree, by individual conferencing,
>whether a student understands the material. But we can't assign the
>required numeric grades on that basis; for that, we have to have numbers
>that can be defended in court--whether or not they really indicate
>learning. I have sat on grievance committees where such numbers were held
>in very high esteem. I certainly wouldn't want to be caught in that
>situation without the numbers to "justify" the grade I gave. My own best
>judgment wouldn't suffice.
>
>I don't really think it's a "philosophy" so much as a self-defense
>mechanism.
>
>John M. Flanigan <johnf@hawaii.edu> The equation is the final arbiter.
>Assistant Professor, Mathematics --Werner Heisenberg
>Kapi'olani Community College The scoreboard is the final
arbiter.
>4303 Diamond Head Road --Bill Walton
>Honolulu HI 96816 History is the final arbiter.
>(808) 734-9371 --Edward Gibbon
>
>On Wed, 17 Feb 1999, Bret Taylor wrote:
>
>> A few faculty memebers were sitting around our lounge late one afternoon
>> waiting to either go home or to a night class and we started waxing
>> philosophical. (I guess we are administrators at heart. :-) )
>>
>> We came up with two observations.
>>
>> 1. It seems like there is more and more prevalent a philosophy that a
>> student should be able to take one of two paths in order to pass a class:
>> learn the material or "jump through hoops." By the latter I mean do work
>> that is related to the course but not necessarily indicative of learning
the
>> material. Examples: Keep a homework notebook; class attendance; time
spent
>> in the computer lab; time spent in the tutorial center; correct exams and
>> turn them back in. All of those activities *should* increase learning,
but
>> do not guarantee an increase. But, it seems like there is more and more
>> prevalent a philosophy "in education" that those activities should count
a
>> larger and larger percent of a grade.
>>
>> 2. Colleges tend to grade "success" by asking, "Did the student pass
this
>> course?" rather than by asking, "Is the student prepared to pass the next
>> course?" (When our school presents data on "student success" it is
always
>> measured in grades in a particular course. Example: We had a 55%
success
>> rate in Algebra.)
>>
>> Anybody else notice either of these phenomena?
>>
>>
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