At 02:34 PM 12/21/99 -0600, EAKIN MARK E wrote:
>Dennis Roberts writes:
i said this ...
>>
>> third ... usually, "curving" means lowering the cutoffs ... that were
>> established at the beginning of a course (maybe in the syllabus) .... if
>> that is the case ... then there is NO statistical rationale for this ...
>> simply, your "gut" feeling that not enough students are making As, Bs, etc
>> ... SO, you move the cutoffs down until YOU feel comfortable ...
>>
and mark countered
>In the case of my teaching philosoply, I will have to disagree with
>the above. To me, a student's grade can be expressed as
but, i counter counter with ...
sorry ... grading is PRIMARILY a subjective activity ... there is no other
way to put it. now, you can have test scores, project scores, other
observations, speeches, homework, knowledge from previous classes, etc.
... you name it. but, in the final analysis ... you put all this stuff
together ... and then you DECIDE where to put the cut points ... and, if
anyone out there thinks the placing of cut points in typical classes in
schools is objective ... then merry christmas to you and to all a good night!
==============================================================
dennis roberts, penn state university
educational psychology, 8148632401
http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/droberts.htm
