At 04:58 PM 2/2/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Posting grades by SS# is a serious problem and a violation of student
>grade confidentiality. It is far to easy to identify particular
>students (particularly foreign students) on the basis of social security
>number.
>
This is true. However, I must admit I come close to being guilty of it. I
post grades by the last 4 digits of the SS#. But, I also ask for permission
to do this on a student information sheet I have them fill out the first
day of class. I make a big deal out of the item that asks for permission
and let them know that if they do not want their grade posted by the last
4, that I will be more than happy to arrange an alternate way of posting
their grade or not post their grade at all if they would prefer. So far
I've only had one student who did not want their grade posted this way (out
of about 620 that I've taught in large sections over the past 2-3 years),
and we just made up an arbitary 4 digit number to list their grades by.
This saves me from having to assign everyone a random number and expect
them to remember it when the first test comes along. The only problem has
been duplicate numbers (where 2 or more people have the same last 4
digits). In those cases I tend to just assign a random 4 digit number to
both of them or just have them come by in person to get their grade.
- Marc
G. Marc Turner, MEd
Department of Psychology
Southwest Texas State University
San Marcos, TX 78666
phone: (512)245-2526
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
