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From: skyler@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Patricia Roberts)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.math,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Posting grades (Was Re: Student and Course Integrity)
Message-ID: <6125@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Date: 19 Dec 88 10:35:32 GMT
References: <5129@bsu-cs.UUCP> <4302@teklds.CAE.TEK.COM>
Reply-To: skyler@ecsvax.UUCP (Patricia Roberts)
Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service
Lines: 39

In article <4302@teklds.CAE.TEK.COM> dant@mrloog.LA.TEK.COM (Dan Tilque) writes:
>Rahul Dhesi writes:
>>Educators don't want students comparing each others' grades too freely,
>>lest they (the students) discover how inconsistent grading often is.
>
>I don't think so.  Grades are not publicly availiable just in case the
>student is planning on running for Vice-President someday.

Actually, it is ILLEGAL for an instructor to release a student's grades
(except under certain specific circumstances.)

This is good for the student, in that Mom and Dad can only see the student's
grades if the student lets them (or if they open mail--as my folks did.)  It
also means that other instructors can't pre-judge a student ("ahh, since
she got a B in such and such a class, she must be stupid...")  Basically,
the student gets to choose how private her grades will be.

It didn't seem like a big issue to me until last week when I saw that
someone had posted grades by name.  I suddenly realized how furious I would
be if that had happened to me, regardless of what grade I received.  There's
a lot of pressure here not to do too well in school nor too badly.  Posting
grades would just increase that pressure.

Where I taught as a grad student, grades were posted by registration
number.  Here, we were told that posting grades even by that method was
probably illegal.  That seems silly to me.  Even given the incredible
disparity between sections (of student ability) it helps students pick
sections to look at an instructor's previous grades.   (Not that an instructor
with a lot of A's is an easy grader, necessarily, but at least a student can
figure out of the instructor grades on a curve.)  And, personally, if a
student wants an easy-A prof, I'd far prefer they take someone else's
section.


-- 
-Trish 		 	"...Turning off onto a dirt road
(919)230-0809		from the raw cuts bulldozed through a quiet village
         		for the tourist run to Canada..."
skyler@ecsvax.uncecs.edu                                    -A. Rich