[lit-ideas] Re: Grade inflation
- From: david savory <dsavory@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 07:34:41 -0700
>
>> Does this mean that my assessments will be 'more honest,
>> meticulous, or caring'? Not unless something more is factored in.
>
>I agree. That is why I usually add several comments on what I am
>looking for. Basically there are five criteria:
>
>1) Accuracy--Get the facts and definitions right
>2) Sound judgment--Distinguish major from minor points
>3) Effective use of detail--Demonstrate real understanding
>4) Unexpected insight--Surprise and delight me
>5) Serious risk-taking--Come up with something new and compelling
You're almost home and dried at this point. The way to make
evaluation fair is to create a rubric that is based on criteria like
these and incorporates a scoring strategy for each one: you could,
for example, give a 5/5 for all facts and definitions correct, 4/5
for most correct (only one or two incorrect) , 3/5 for many correct
etc and do the same for each criterion.
The important thing is to discuss the criteria for assessment with
the students *in advance* so everyone is clear what *exactly* is
being evaluated. You need operationalize terms like "sound",
"effective" "unexpected" and "serious" which don't seem ambiguous but
actually are. (There's always reason for argument: I actually spent
almost two hours arguing with a student's mother because she claimed
a stick figure drawn by her son did indeed constitute one of three
"significant focal elements" in a Photoshop compositing assignment I
gave.)
None of this changes the fact that, at bottom, evaluation is about
judgement which has a huge subjective component. A rubric makes that
judgement a little fairer. There's no substitute however for giving
the students the benefit of the doubt and maybe this is a recent
practice which is the basis for grades seeming inflated.
David Savory
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