Yes, at least 30% of the Intro students do not earn a passing grade. I stress to students that this class is a science class and that I have heard the D/F rates can be quite high. With hard work and time management however, most students do earn a passing grade. They also have been used to being passed along for any extra busy work they can squeeze out of the teacher--so that the teacher can rationalize giving them a passing grade. This is what they call extra credit. I do give credit for participation/attendance, but the bulk of the grade is determined by assessments (homework and exams). I also make available a How to Study booklet. We do use a kind of pre-post assessment test that the dept put together. They typically do not do real well on that, but have shown some improvement. Usually, many of the students having difficulty will have already withdrawn, so you have a honed sample. If many are not doing well on the post-test, but the instructors are giving all Bs and As, then I wonder about the validity of either the grading or the post-test. We typically have our pre and post test administered on-line. We also had found that the post test was low. There may be a number of reasons for this. Motivation to do well is central. Taking the post test on-line also creates extreme variability in the (unknown) testing situation. I even had some students take the on-line post test who already dropped the class, or were simply not attending any longer. We recently gave the post test in class and found significant (statistical) improvement in this one section. We (the university) have a number of learning-to-learn opportunities for students, but the key is that they have gotten by so far without having to do much real studying, so the motivation to work hard is not terribly high. If such classes are not required, they do not attend. I have kept my tests at a college level of difficulty, but have lowered my grading scale a bit. I have also written a How to Study booklet for them, but of course, it presumes they will put the ideas into action. In psych, some faculty have tried special study groups, and more frequent testing. Weekly quizzes (on-line or in class) can insure that they will have read the chapter (at least superficially) and it can build a schedule or routine that they sorely need. Finally, a small, but increasing number of Intro students have reading and comprehension problems that are not being addressed. Of course they can take a CJ, Soc., or Education class and pass quite easily so it must be my fault ;-) As they often tell me, "I am not having trouble in my other classes, just yours." It's always fun to actually check this one out. Gary Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology Saginaw Valley State University University Center, MI 48710 989-964-4491 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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