The Business Blog at Intuitive.com

Dave Taylor has been involved with the online world since 1980 and is recognized globally as an expert on both technical and business issues. He has been published over a thousand times, launched four Internet-related startup companies, has written twenty business and technical books and holds both an MBA and MS Ed. He's a columnist for the Boulder Daily Camera and Linux Journal and frequently appears in other publications both online and in print. Additionally, Dave maintains four weblogs: The Business Blog at Intuitive.com, Ask Dave Taylor, Dave On Film, and GoFahterhood. Based in beautiful Boulder, Colorado, Dave is an award-winning speaker, sought after conference and workshop participant and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs, as well as active member of his community and busy single father to three children.

The importance of "the curve" in academia

I never would have thought I'd receive this, but the online university for whom I teach classes recently sent me this letter stating that I wasn't grading in a sufficiently aggressive manner to have an appropriate grade spread. It said:

We expect our graduates to have excellent skills in their chosen fields of study and also in communication, analysis, and critical thinking. However, students cannot improve in these areas without accurate, rigorous, and consistent evaluation of their work. Many instructors would agree that grading is the most difficult aspect of teaching, not only because of the time requirements but also due to the stress associated with making judgments about a student's performance in class. Both of these factors may contribute to the problem of grade inflation in which the distribution of grades assigned by an instructor does not match the expected distribution of grades for the University student body. The University has determined the following GPA goals...

The letter continues:

• undergraduate courses - overall, the average GPA should not exceed 3.5 with variance less than 0.70

• graduate courses - overall, the average GPA should not exceed 3.75 with variance less than 0.60.

We reviewed the number and types of grades assigned to our Online students for the period of September 1, 2002 to August 31, 2003. We found that you have assigned 26 undergraduate grades with a GPA of 3.57 and variance of 0.34. Though it is possible that you have been teaching exceptional groups of students at the University, it may be important for you to reexamine your grade evaluation process to ensure you are effectively differentiating satisfactory or good work from excellent classroom performance.

Don't get me wrong: it's not that all students should get an "A", I don't believe that at all, but when there's a quota and when statistics are the yardstick of grading, not teaching, quality of learning, subsequent mastery of the subject, etc., it feels a bit like the inmates running the proverbial asylum.

But you might think otherwise. You, my reader, what do you think? Do you think that the professors in your academic classes were similarly analyzed to ensure an appropriate grade spread?

Posted by Dave Taylor at December 21, 2003 10:28 PM

Comments

I personally think it's total BS to not 'allow' giving a deserved grade. If a student needs to know X, Y and Z then has be able to formulate opinions, support arguments and complete tasks correctly with said knowledge - they should be graded on that. Period. IMO, of course, never having taught...

I agree that they should keep tabs on the grading, because a teacher (like any other employee) may become lazy and just gloss over things - but to have a *formula* to grade students... and *insist* that you follow it without checking into both your obviously above-average teaching ability and the calibre of your students... grrrrr.

Posted by: Jodie on December 22, 2003 1:23 AM

Well, I've submitted my grades for this latest class and it's definitely spread across the curve more than my previous classes, with many more B's than A's. While I feel a bit like a mean grumbly teacher, I have to admit that I have received my end-of-class positive feedback from students just as I do with "easier" classes, including comments like "You have been an outstanding teacher, it was a pleasure being in your class."

So.... maybe I'm still fair and equitable after all... :-)

Posted by: Dave Taylor on December 23, 2003 8:53 PM

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