Teachers grading on a curve

[nebula]

Hi

Is there anyone here who is a teacher or who has dealt with a teacher that grades on a curve?

It's frustrating (and does a disservice to students) when instructors grade on a curve. One of my classes, the instructor gives 5 points on the mid term and final-- and 2 points on each weekly quiz. This means a total of 17 points at the end of the semester. That makes for a letter grade difference.

While at first thought this may seem like a good thing, it undermines effort. As an example, I currently have a 95 in that class (the curves have not been figured yet)- and it's a 95 I earned. My grade can't go up past an A-- but come semester's end, those who barely tried or just scraped by with a C or Less, will end up with an A or B- for little or no effort. It simply isn't right.- Just my 2 cents.

 

[mollyblue]

I am confused.  Howcome the people who were barely scraping by with a c or less will end up with a B?  How come you cannot get above an A--?

This really does suck if you are working on a GPA of 4.0... but in the grand scheme of things, it  is not the grade you get in the class, but what you take away from the class that matters.  Some instructors only give one grade for the entire class... and that is what you get on your final.  thats your grade.  You go through the whole call and either you know it, or you dont.  I also had an instructor who came into class and said, I am giving everyone an A.  I don't want any of you to worry about your grade, or whether or not you will pass.  I just want you to come to class, have fun with the material, and learn as much as you can.  As long as you come to class, you get your A.  I was really offended by these instructors because I was working so hard at getting my 4.0 GPA and I wanted a better grade than other people to prove I was better... darn it, I studied harder, I DESERVED the A's I got.... But now, looking back on it all, I see how little it all mattered.

Grading on a curve does have some advantages.  For instance, if there is a question on the test, and the instructor never provided the answer to this question, or the means to answer the question, and all students miss it... that question doesn't count.  If only a couple students can answer the question, but most students miss it, it doesn't count very much, if most students can answer it, then it counts a great deal.  On a normal grading scale, all the questions count equally, and it just may be that no one gets an A.  Grading on a curve just means that at least someone in the class will get the  highest score possible.  An A.  The bad part is that on a really easy test, in a normal grading scale, the whole class might get an A, but grading on a curve, the 90-100 percent might be the entire curve, and not everyone will get an A.

Just grin, bear it, and get through this.  you know whether or not you did your best, and what you are taking away from the class.  Sometimes that has to be enough.

 

[swampwitch]

I'm confused, too. The only way someone with a C or less in your class could end up with an A or B is if the highest grades are Cs. When grading on a curve, the top 10% of the grades get an A, next 10% get a B. The bulk of the grades will be Cs (60%) and the remaining 20% get D or F. 

I can understand the concept of grading on a curve, but I've never liked it, either. Often, teachers who grade on a curve do so because too many students in the class have high grades, or too many have low grades. This can happen when the course is not taught well, and is too easy or too difficult. The teacher can't have everyone fail or everyone get an A. Still, it stinks if you end up with a lower grade than you thought you had. If everyone in the class has an A average, then the lowest As will fail, but that would have to be a terrible class with a bad teacher.

 

[raysmyheart]

  I am not familiar with curve grading.  I went to college in the 1980's and was graded with a numerical point that equals an A+, A, A-,B, etc.  That was it, no adjusting.  If I were teaching, I do not think I would like it at all.  Does not make any sense to me.

 

[swampwitch]

 

  I am not familiar with curve grading.  I went to college in the 1980's and was graded with a numerical point that equals an A+, A, A-,B, etc.  That was it, no adjusting….

It's a very common practice in academia so it's possible you didn't even know it was going on. Teachers can grade on a curve on some tests or assignments, but not with others. It can affect only a few students' grades, so you wouldn't know if their test scores were curved up or down a little. Teachers who use the bell curve for final grades are BAD teachers IMO.

 

[mollyblue]

I didn't realize teachers could grade on a curve for certain things but not others. I guess I always just thought it was an all or nothing deal.  I think if you have a test that everyone does poorly on, then it is fair to grade that particular test on a  curve.

 

[denice]

In high school several teachers graded on the curve.  Of the ones that didn't they used a grading that was more lenient than the standard.  On their scale 90 - 100 was an A, 80 - 90 was a B, I remember the standard was 96 - 100 was an A.

There was no grading on the curve in college though.  I went to a large state university instead of a smaller college, that might have made a difference.  The state university accepted everyone that graduated from an accredited high school in that state and then they filtered out the ones that weren't college material or weren't trying with grades.  They had something like a 40 percent fail rate the first year.  I have heard that it is very rare for someone to flunk out of many of the Ivy League Schools.  They are very picky about who they admit and then they will do everything possible to make sure a student graduates.

 

[nebula]

This is what she announced

"I was impressed with how many very high grades there were.  Nevertheless, in the final calculation of your grade, I am going to give you five extra points on this test (the Midterm) and our final.  So what that means if you are trying to determine how many points you have at this point is you should add two points to each weekly test score - if you took the test  - and five points to this test score.  If you have taken all the tests, you will add 17 points to the total of your test scores.  That is your cumulative total at this point in the semester."

I currently have a 94.6 in that class, without any curve points being added. 

As far as not getting above an A, my university uses a 4.0 scale

 

[mollyblue]

Oh, I thought you said you could not get above an A -- (minus, minus, or a very low A).  But hey, as long as you got an A, don't buy yourself uhappiness worrying over what others may or may not have. I know, its not fair, but life is not fair.  Taxes are not fair, New people coming in on the job making as much, and sometimes more than someone doing the same job for 5 or ten years is not fair.  Premature Death is not fair, Suffering long before passing from this life isn't fair either... Life is full of all sorts of unfair things, but we will enjoy it a lot more if quit worrying about everyone else and take care of us.  Ya gotta just be like Yay, I got an A.  You will be even happier if you learn to judge yourself not by the grade others give you, but can form your own self worth, fashion your own value off of what you took away from the course...

 

[fyllis]

I graduated high school in 1975. In all honesty, I have no clue how they graded. 

My opinion on education and 'grading' might be a little 'off the wall' for some, but I feel that giving numbers and letters accompanied by + and - can have an effect on some students. I think you should either have a Pass or Fail. You either know it or you don't.

I majored in Art during my four years of high school. The first three years, I got straight A's. I absolutely loved my teacher because he was damn good at what he did; therefore, I loved the class and did my best work. My Senior year, Mr. Deters left and we got a 'new' teacher. She was very domineering and controlling - something that does not work well with an artist. She demanded and stipulated and never once gave a compliment to anyone. It would have been more conducive for her to offer suggestions with an explanation rather than tear someone's piece apart because it wasn't 'hers'. Three of the better students requested a transfer out of her class, which was a shame because they were good students. 

I remember my first quarter when she (I don't remember her name because she didn't give me reason to) stood behind me and negatively criticized a painting I was doing. She told me I should be using blues in the background instead of reds. I heard what she said, but my final result was a background of reds. It was MY painting, and it was a specific subject. She was very upset that I didn't paint it the way she thought it should be and I got an F on that project. At the end of the year, my final grade was a C. 

Albeit, Art is subjective; it was clear that my grade was based on her judgement of me and not on my artistic abilities. 

In retrospect, other academics, such as math, are more strictly tabulated and should be graded on exact answers of right or wrong. Still, it would be a pass or fail result. 

I know of a girl I went to school with who was required to get straight A's by her parents. Anything less was unacceptable. She was handed a test paper back and immediately burst into tears and threw up; she received a B+. Mind you, I have no idea what avengement was doled out to her at home, but it must have horrendous to have that effect on her.

In an average class of 30 students, regardless of their age, there will be a wide division of learning capability. It's my opinion that grading should be done of an individual basis rather than as a whole.  For some, learning comes naturally and so does testing; for others, it is a struggle. Some students comprehend and retain very easily, yet have test anxiety. They can pass an oral test with flying colors, but completely fail a written test.  There are so many other things that should be considered when grading a student on their achievements.

Learning should be relaxed and fun, not a competition among peers. Grading should reflect accomplishment, not attainment of a letter.  

 

[denice]

A few years ago I took a medical billing and coding course and we had someone in our class who did lousy on tests.  This was at a career college, what used to be called a tech school, and most people ended up with high averages.  Very few people fail at a tech school though we did have one in our class that managed to.  Billing and coding is one of those things that is not subjective, there is always one right answer.  She was actually very good at coding but she always did poorly on tests.  She was so frustrated about it because her grades did not represent how well she knew the subject.

 

[stewball]

Nowadays those that are weak in written tests can get permission to do them orally especially if they're dyslexic.

 

[kittycort]

In elementary through high school, teachers are required to pass a certain amount of students, so they have to grade with a curve or simply pass failing students. The administrators make teachers do it, as the No Student Left Behind philosophy requires it. So you can have a 15 yr old who puts zero effort in, knows they are failing, and yet passes. Ridiculous.

As an undergrad, I had teachers who used a curve also, typically if it was deemed a harder class, although tge curve took away from the challenge. I never had a teacher use a curve in grad school though. Most likely, its not your instructor who put thus grading curve in place but someone over his or her head eho needs the stats to improve.

 

[natalie_ca]

My advice is to continue to study and do the best you can and not worry about everyone else in the class or the grades they have now or will have at the end of the course.