Personally, I still tend to give exam grades primary weight, though
homework average counts as one exam. In the end, however, all of these
ideas have merit if they get the student to learn the material - if a
couple of bonus points gets them to attend regularly, do the homework,
etc., - i.e., it should be reflected for most students in better scores on
their tests. If there is no evidence supporting this hoped for result, then
the "success" is merely a fiction of the system.
This leads to your second comment. Success should be measured in terms of
both the success rate within one course and the success rate in the next
course for those within the first group who go on to take that course.
(There is often a significant number who succeed in one course and do not
go on to take the next - even though they will need to take it.) One year
while on sabbatical I looked at this for the many adjunct instructors I
supervised. Often success within their course was inversely related to
success in the next course - i.e., they may have been too easy in assigning
grades. To compare instructors' "success rates," I looked at the product of
the two success rates.
>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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