tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post1494065981522268744..comments2024-03-15T01:11:32.832-07:00Comments on Bardiac: Grading on a CurveBardiachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-29087100082474239412015-05-12T05:21:46.658-07:002015-05-12T05:21:46.658-07:00Saucyturtles, the back and forth makes so much sen...Saucyturtles, the back and forth makes so much sense. I was at the end of the baby boom, so they were weeding, I guess. But now they wouldn't be because there are fewer students graduating from HSs. Thanks!Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-52202138763512117912015-05-11T17:06:52.588-07:002015-05-11T17:06:52.588-07:00I've done a little curve in the students' ...I've done a little curve in the students' favor, but not all the time. On changing expectations, my grandfather, who taught at NYU from 1929 - ~70, said during the depression and the war, they were urged not to give so many low grades so as not to lose students. Then during the baby boom years, they were urged not to give so many high grades for the opposite reason. So weed-em-out has come and gone and come and gone again over the years.saucyturtlesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-88920521825147659082015-05-09T17:35:04.570-07:002015-05-09T17:35:04.570-07:00I look at the distributions. If the class average ...I look at the distributions. If the class average on a quiz or midterm is somewhere in the thirties or fifties, something went wrong. My job is to figure out what and determine the best response. Occasionally that means that I'll bump up the marks overall or offer an extra credit opportunity. I've never pulled a class down for exceeding expectations because I'm grading against the standards, not for a certain distribution of marks!Janicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14093558563358431804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-7233381365518576392015-05-09T15:55:46.635-07:002015-05-09T15:55:46.635-07:00I don't curve at all. Sometimes classes do gr...I don't curve at all. Sometimes classes do great as a group, and sometimes there are some folks who don't do great.<br /><br />I've never been a place where the curve hurt instead of just helping.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-87843765942402539032015-05-09T12:28:21.860-07:002015-05-09T12:28:21.860-07:00I don't grade on a formal curve, but I do some...I don't grade on a formal curve, but I do some informal clustering / scaling of grades on exams, which are the only things that get number grades: spread them out from highest to lowest, and see what the spread looks like and where the gaps are. Usually, they fall into distinct clusters with logical cutoff points, so I'll call the first cluster the A range, the second one the B range, and so on.Fretful Porpentinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165078003123517013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-43255812105945315252015-05-09T11:40:08.486-07:002015-05-09T11:40:08.486-07:00I got out of the sciences (in the mid- '80s, a...I got out of the sciences (in the mid- '80s, at a place pretty similar to Yale) because I didn't want to fight for tenths of points with pre-meds. It took all the joy out of learning about stuff in which I was genuinely interested. So yes, I guess there was still a curve in the sciences there then. Whether there still is now, I'm not sure. There wasn't in the humanities (and presumably still isn't, given all the debates about whether >50% of the members of a class should be getting As. Coming from a not-too-selective high school which was nevertheless academically rigorous enough to make an A hard to get, I was probably a bit naive about what the B+s I often got meant. Fortunately -- or unfortunately, depending on whether you consider getting a Ph.D. a wise choice -- I wrote a prize-winning thesis, which propelled me into grad school). <br /><br />I only curve when the grades are disastrously low (e.g. when I try giving multiple-choice tests, even ones I think are easy, in large gen ed lit classes), or for class participation (I assign points to presence, contributions, and various prep activities, add up all the points, set the median, usually at a B, and work from there. I do, however, reserve the right to exercise discretion in setting the top and bottom as well -- so, if a class was really uncooperative/lazy, nobody may get an A in participation, and if all members were generally cooperative/hard working, the minimum participation grade may be a B- or C+ rather than a C or D or F). <br /><br />As far as I'm concerned, curving is one method for performing a reality check on my expectations (while reserving the right to insist on certain minimum standards, even if students resist meeting them). Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-54560202160353240652015-05-09T10:42:07.664-07:002015-05-09T10:42:07.664-07:00I don't grade on a curve, but whenever I was s...I don't grade on a curve, but whenever I was subject to a curve, it was always to raise people's grades, rather than lower them. <br /><br />Some of my students in Humanities have begged for a curve. It is always disappointing to them when we say no. Fie upon this quiet life!https://www.blogger.com/profile/12047096700049201873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-53103091224732474102015-05-09T10:33:23.071-07:002015-05-09T10:33:23.071-07:00I curve in science classes. (Sometimes hugely - I...I curve in science classes. (Sometimes hugely - I used a transformation once when the mean was below a 50, where you take the square root of the grade and then multiply by 10. Someone really low gets curved a lot, but if someone gets a 90 they don't suddenly get more than 100%.) Always up, if my exam means are lower than my normal (e.g., all of a sudden a section gets an average of a 69 instead of a 78). You can also calculate means, standard deviations, and z-scores so you can get a statistical/scientific basis for your curve.joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08905676673869362592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-12899253049290582392015-05-09T09:52:29.880-07:002015-05-09T09:52:29.880-07:00Oh, there was definitely a curve in the sciences a...Oh, there was definitely a curve in the sciences at Yale in the 1990s--and I presume today, too. Half the people I knew started out pre-med and most didn't last a semester.<br /><br />But like Sapience, I've always understood the expression "grading on a curve" to mean grading <i>generously</i>: if the class is hard, the person who sets the curve makes their top score the new 100. I sometimes curve exams (never essays), if the distribution seems off or I think I inadvertently made it harder than it should have been.Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-8811719041014203632015-05-09T08:22:17.591-07:002015-05-09T08:22:17.591-07:00That makes a lot of sense, Sapience! Thanks for t...That makes a lot of sense, Sapience! Thanks for the feedback.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-35494066520340317092015-05-09T07:56:08.080-07:002015-05-09T07:56:08.080-07:00Here at Georgia Tech, my students tell me their gr...Here at Georgia Tech, my students tell me their grades are sometimes curved in the math/sciences/engineering, but only in the student's favor. You get a 60/100 on a Physics exam, but you might still get a C or a B because no-one in the class got above a 75. Sapiencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09259871146375570988noreply@blogger.com