How Come I Got a C?

My goals for this session are to explore the differences between faculty and student approaches to grades, explain what the research suggests is best practice on grading and how we can achieve it, and finally to suggest some ways to handle student complaints about grades.

My guess is that most of us find grading one of the least pleasant aspects of our job, so why do we do it.   Well, the short and obvious reason is that it is a required task, but let me suggest some other, possibly more positive reasons, for doing this generally onerous task.

Grading can be a motivational tool that encourages students to make better use of their ability.  It also can be used to signal what is considered good or poor work.  Finally, grading can help students structure their effort by indicating what is rewarded (i.e., should a student spend more time memorizing details or working on integration and synthesis).

Grading also can be used to send a broader message to students about possible career directions.  Poor grades in introductory classes, after all, weed some students out of particular career tracks, and good grades not only reward excellence, but encourage people to choose a certain major.

We also use grades as a short hand to communicate with outsiders about the quality of a student’s undergraduate performance.

The process of grading can also be valuable to us as teachers.  It helps us know how much our students have learned and/or how well we have communicated key ideas.  From that, we can gauge areas in our teaching that need re-enforcement or refining.

My point is, then, that there are lots of things going on when we are assigning grades, and some of them have real value for the teaching and learning that is central to our vocation.

How do students see this?   How do they think about grades?    Research suggests that students lie on a continuum between the two poles of performance and mastery.

Students who have a performance orientation see grades as a way of demonstrating their superiority or maintaining their self-image of competence.  Such students regard errors or the need to do a lot of work as signs of stupidity.  In their view, this is a permanent condition that can’t be fixed  (“I’m not good at math”).

At the other end, students who have a mastery orientation see grades as connected with mastering content rather than establishing their place among their peers.   Their focus is on learning, so errors are seen as learning opportunities.  (For example, a diver takes the judges’ evaluation of the dive as a tool for directing further work.) 
 

Key point: the research shows that students toward the mastery end of scale learn more.
 

For most students, the context will affect which end of the continuum they lean toward.  As a result, our conduct/attitude is very important.   The more we can do to promote the mastery context, the better students will learn – and as you might guess, the less likely they will be to complain about grades.

So how do we do this?   How do we promote an atmosphere that maximizes the opportunity for student learning and decreases the likelihood of student complaints?    Naturally there are lots of things, but for me they fall into five categories.
 

4

Consistently does all or almost all:
Accurately interprets evidence, identifies salient arguments, analyzes/evaluates alternative views, draws warranted conclusions, justifies key results/procedures, fair-mindedly follows where evidence leads.

3

Does most or many:
Accurately interprets evidence, identifies relevant arguments, offers obvious alternatives, draws warranted conclusions, justifies some results, is fair

2

Does most or many:
Misinterprets evidence, fails to identify relevant arguments, draws false conclusions, justifies few results, disregards evidence in favor of own views

1

Consistently does all or almost all:
Offers biased interpretations of evidence, fails to identify strong arguments, ignores alternatives, does not justify, maintains own views, exhibits close-mindedness

English Usage

3

No grammatical or spelling errors

2

Fewer than three errors; sentence structure complete

1

Fewer than three errors; sentence structure incomplete

0

More than three errors

Factual

3

All biological facts are correct

2

Minor factual error (example: confused a name but had process correct)

1

More than two minor factual errors or one major factual error (example: incorrect process or anatomy)

0

Disregarded biological facts

Rational

3

Offers explanations that follow both facts and values

2

Offers explanations inconsistent with either facts or values

1

Offers explanations inconsistent with both facts and values

0

Offers no explanation

5

Contains appropriate, quantifiable, concisely organized information that allows the experiment to be replicated.  All information in the report can be related back to this section.  Identifies sources of data.  Sequences information appropriately.  No wordiness.

4

As above, but contains unnecessary information or wordiness

3

Experiment could be replicated from information given.  All information in the report can be related back to this section.  However, fails to identify some data sources or has problematic sequencing.

2

Marginally replicable. Parts of basic design must be inferred.  Procedures not quantitatively described.  Some information in Results section cannot be anticipated by reading this section.

1

Describes experiment so poorly it cannot be replicated.

A

Content processed at a deep level of understanding and used in a wide range of situations as evidenced by ability to: Give or recognize definitions and terms in almost any context of use; Describe principles and how they interrelate and apply in almost any context of use; Provide a new example or explain how it relates to the content; Analyze almost any situation using the terms and principles of the content and recommend how one should behave to reach a given goal in that situation

B

Content processed at a deep level of understanding as shown by ability to:  Give or recognize definitions that vary in structure from class or text presentation yet mean the same; State or recognize principles that vary in specifics from class or text presentation, yet remain the same; Recognize or provide new examples of terms or principles; Use terms and concepts in applied situations similar but not identical to ones discussed in class or text

C

Content processed at a surface level as shown by ability to: Give or recognize definitions resembling the presented wording; State or recognize principles resembling the presented wording; Give or recognize examples used in class or text

D

Some processing of terms and principles at a surface level, but with frequent errors and missteps

F

Incomplete and/or inaccurate processing of content

4

Clear conceptual understanding, consistent notation, logical formulation, complete solution

3

Adequate understanding, careless errors, some logic missing, incomplete solution

2

Inadequate understanding, procedural errors, logical steps missing, poor or no response

1

Problem not attempted or conceptual understanding totally lacking

4

Although there are errors, appropriate verb tenses and correct Spanish structure and vocabulary appear consistently.  The author has taken some chances.  The entries are varied.  The content of the journal is by and large comprehensible.

3

There are some appropriate verb tenses and correct Spanish structure, but incorrect usage and/or vocabulary interferes with comprehension by the reader.

2

There are few appropriate verb tenses, structure, or vocabulary, and the reader finds many of the entries difficult to understand.  Too many entries are repetitious making the journal dull.

1

There are very few appropriate verb tenses, structure and vocabulary, rendering the majority of the entries virtually incomprehensible

These criteria/expectations work best if you go over them early in the class, but it helps enormously to repeat them later.   Once students are familiar with some of the course material, you can make the standards much more meaningful by providing specific examples from content you have covered.
 

3.         Strive for consistency in grading.  Try to apply the standards you have laid out consistently from assignment to assignment.   (It helps if you keep similar types of assignments so students learn what they are supposed to do.  If you keep switching the evaluation format, they have to learn the format as well as the content.)
 

4.         To improve the mastery message, provide some positive feedback as you point out what needs to be improved.   If ALL your comments are focused on what was wrong – ie, justifying why you aren’t giving it a higher grade -- then you are really sending the message that the kid can’t master the material.   When you are sending positive messages, REALLY look for opportunities to offer specific praise for improvement in areas where the student was having difficulty.  This not only shows you care, but also sends a message that they can get better and thereby fends off the performance mentality that says they are terminally stupid.
 

5.         Think about ways to emphasize tests and grades as growth/development/mastery over one-shot performance.  At a minimum, talk about expectations (again) before handing back tests/papers.   For objective questions, go over the most frequently missed items and use the opportunity to clarify and/or correct the most common misunderstandings.   For essays, explain what you hoped for in content, and describe the more common problems.

We can also think about other ways of rewarding on-going efforts to learn the material.  Two effective options are cumulative exams, and weighting the first paper/test less and the last significantly more.  I also use a re-write policy for all papers where the student gets a grade on the original, and then by responding to my comments in a revised version can raise it up to one full letter.   Another approach, if you use in-class tests, is the second chance exam.  After they turn in the in-class exam, give them another copy of the exam that they can take home and do as an open book exam.  You then score both and let students earn back up to one-half of the points they lost on the in-class exam by getting the right answers on the take home. 
 

Ok, we’ve been talking about ways that we can structure the grading system to get the focus more on learning, which should by itself reduce complaints, but let me shift over and talk about some strategies that are more specifically designed to decrease student complaints on grades.
 

1.

Make sure the content of exams isn’t a surprise.  Make sure that they mirror what you have emphasized in class.  Remember, our goal is NOT to trick them or to find out what minor details they didn’t get.   Instead, our objective should be to see whether or not they have learned whatever it is that we have decided is critical.
 

2.

Make sure the format of in-class exams isn’t a surprise.   Explain it in detail a week or so before the exam (explanations of format on the first day don’t work because their “need to know” hasn’t been activated).   Walk them through an example or two to clarify your expectations.   Give them some advice on how to study, what to think about and/or to emphasize, and encourage group studying.   You can also provide old test questions or use an announced percentage of questions from the homework bank in your text.  Another strategy is to provide several questions in advance for them to study, and then pick one or two from that group for the actual test.
 

3.

If you use objective tests, before you hand the exams back, review the most frequently missed questions.  If you decide that there was a problem with the way the question was written, delete that item and adjust the scoring before returning the papers to the students.  This will save you lots of complaints, and will win you points as a reasonable person.
 

4.

Make sure that different grades are based on real differences in performance.   It is very hard to convince a student that his “B” is a legitimate assessment because he only got 397 points of the 400 needed for an AB.
 

5.

Return tests quickly.  The next period is best, but never to go more than a week unless there is a crisis.  Delays increase anxiety, complaints, and most importantly, decrease the learning opportunity.
 

Ok, I’ve talked about how we can create an atmosphere that encourages a mastery orientation toward grades, and I’ve pointed out some ways that we can modify our behaviors in order to head off student complains.  But you know that isn’t always going to work.  So let’s get down to the real crunch time.  You have done all of the above, but some kid is nevertheless unhappy with his grade.  What do you do?

The research literature isn’t real helpful here, so what you are going to get is my advice based on years of making mistakes.
 

1.         Have a pre-stated policy that you don’t discuss grades on the day papers/tests are returned.  (I announce that I will deal with addition/point total errors, but not why they got a particular grade or a certain number of points on a question.)   When you announce this policy, make it clear that you want any post-exam meeting to be a productive learning experience, and that that requires students having the time to read your comments and reflecting on them prior to meeting.  Make it very clear that you are very happy to make appointments to discuss the exam.
 

3.  When they get to my office, I begin by asking to look at their exam again.  While I do that I have them read a copy of a good exam that I have photocopied from the class. (Obviously, this doesn’t work with multiple choice questions, but it is a wonderful tool otherwise.)  I take the name off the good paper as well as my substantive comments at the end.  I’m not sure if this really takes care of the confidentiality/proprietary issues, but  I announce early in semester that I like to make anonymous copies of best papers, and if they don’t want me to copy theirs, then they should write “do not copy” on them.

Once we are both done reading, I ask the student to compare his/her paper with the good example and, if applicable, the general criteria I provided. 

We then usually move on to a more detailed examination of the student’s paper.  If they ask a question about what was or wasn’t in the paper, I try to restate it as I heard it so that I’m sure we are talking about the same thing.  I try to praise the good parts of their essay while working through areas where it fell short.  I ask them to orally amplify the portions of their essay that were deficient.  That usually allows me to praise them for their understanding of the course content while reminding them that they need to get those ideas down next time because I can only grade what is on the paper.  I keep talking about improvement on the next test/paper and that I am available to help them get prepared.
 

4.         When you are conferencing, try your utmost to keep the focus away from the grade.  Don’t be defensive.  Remember, you are the one with the power.  Keep acting as though they only want to know how to do better, and try to ignore whining about the grade.  Keep pushing the idea that you want them to be successful, and that you want to help them understand how to write a better exam the next time. 
 

5.         Don’t give in on the grade unless you truly believe that you overlooked something or were in someway uneven in your treatment.
 

6.         If I can’t satisfy the student in any other way, I sometimes offer to thoroughly re-read and re-grade their paper.  At the same time, however, I warn them that the grade could change either direction, and since I no longer other student papers at hand for comparison, there is always the danger that my standards will go up and the grade will go down.  It is a mean thing to do, but sometimes…

Main Sources  (available the LES Library)
Tom Angelo and Patricia Cross, Classroom Assessment Techniques  (1993)
Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Anderson, Effective Grading  (1998)
Marilla Svinicki, “Helping Students Understand Grades,” College Teaching, vol 46, no 3, pp. 101-105.