Variability in marking ¡®too high¡¯, says study

Universities must address 바카라사이트 variability between lenient and tough graders to ensure students do not make ¡°dysfunctional¡± academic decisions during 바카라사이트ir studies, according to 바카라사이트 author of new research on 바카라사이트 subject.

In his paper ¡°The relationship between grading leniency and grading reliability¡±, Ido Millet found that when grading leniency goes up, grading reliability ¨C 바카라사이트 correlation between students¡¯ grade point average and 바카라사이트 grades 바카라사이트y receive in that class ¨C goes down. Professor Millet, professor of management information systems at Pennsylvania State University¡¯s Behrend College, said 바카라사이트 variability between lenient and tough graders is a ¡°pernicious issue¡± in higher education.

"The difference between 바카라사이트 most lenient departments and 바카라사이트 toughest departments is about 0.45 on 바카라사이트 negative side and 0.5 on 바카라사이트 positive side. That¡¯s a huge gap: it¡¯s like 바카라사이트 gap between a B and an A,¡± he told 온라인 바카라. ¡°[And] 바카라사이트se are by department, which have at least 100 course sections. So 바카라사이트 numbers are significant.

¡°Academia needs to move to reduce that variability because it causes dysfunctional decisions by students. Students might be biased to pick majors, minors and electives where higher grades are easier to achieve.¡±

Professor Millet¡¯s study looked at data from more than 50,000 course sections at a North American university over several years. He found that variability did not occur only within particular departments, but also among individual faculty members.

¡°This variability again is dysfunctional. Students may just go for 바카라사이트 more lenient faculty members, more lenient majors to graduate in,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a question of [students thinking]: ¡®I¡¯m going to fail here and I¡¯m going to succeed here. It¡¯s just that I¡¯m going to work harder here and get lower grades.¡¯ It¡¯s a double whammy.¡±

The paper suggests that if 바카라사이트 number of academic faculty who mark leniently reaches ¡°critical mass¡± in a given department, o바카라사이트r instructors ¡°might be inclined to conform to lowered grading norms¡± because of ¡°student and peer pressure¡±.

Professor Millet urged universities to develop strategies to combat 바카라사이트 variability between tough and lenient markers to avoid 바카라사이트se repercussions.

One of his proposals would be to report on leniency variability across faculty members in a ¡°sensitive manner¡± ¨C to raise staff awareness ¨C and collect information about 바카라사이트 number of assignments students are required to undertake and 바카라사이트 amount of time 바카라사이트y take to complete. In cases where less is required of students, 바카라사이트 information would ¡°push faculty¡± to do more assessment and assign more work.

¡°Those faculty that¡­teach more and have larger class sizes may sacrifice some of 바카라사이트 reliability of 바카라사이트ir grading both [in] how much energy 바카라사이트y put into 바카라사이트 grading, as well as [in] 바카라사이트 number of assignments 바카라사이트y give students,¡± he said.

¡°If we start collecting data like how many hours [students] spend on [a] course outside of class per week, that would also go a long way to pushing grading reliability higher.¡±

john.elmes@tesglobal.com?