4 ms·

I was unclear before -- an exam with an average score of 90 is equally bad as one with an average score of 10. The variation in score is maximized when the exa

I was unclear before -- an exam with an average score of 90 is equally bad as one with an average score of 10. The variation in score is maximized when the exam has an average score of 50. Since an uncurved score of 50 is a failing grade, you'd need curving to make that system work.

BeetleB 10y ago
>I was unclear before -- an exam with an average score of 90 is equally bad as one with an average score of 10. I agree but it's not what I'm advocating for. >Since an uncurved score of 50 is a failing grade, you'd need curving to make that system work. A curve is inherently about grading relative to one's peers, and I see no reason why it is required. If your test will have an average score of 50, make that a B (or whatever), and perhaps 75 and A. Just do it and fix it to those grades. Do not keep changing the threshold based on your current batch of students. I think the fundamental differences between the two camps boils down to this question: Should grades be an absolute measure or a relative measure? I'm strongly in the absolute camp.
- smallnamespace 10y ago
  > If your test will have an average score of 50, make that a B (or whatever), and perhaps 75 and A. Just do it and _fix_ it to those grades. That's still a form of curving, since you can't know ahead of time on a new test how students will do. E.g. if you arbitrarily fixed it at 50 / 75 and your students do a lot worse than you expected, do you just fail the lot of them? If not, and you move the score thresholds lower, then that's just what curving is. In fact, I had a couple of professors who told us ahead of time that curving could only be used to adjust our scores upward, but never downward, e.g. 70% was passing, but so was 60%, if enough of the class did poorly. Made the students feel much better, since they had a fixed bar to reach. Seems like you'd be satisfied though if the curve used at least ~100 students to calculate so that it didn't change much due to random variation (e.g. if your class is small, aggregate multiple years of data)? Still a form of curving (since you are, at the end of the day, being compared to other students), just with different methodology.

BeetleB 10y ago

>I was unclear before -- an exam with an average score of 90 is equally bad as one with an average score of 10. I agree but it's not what I'm advocating for. >Since an uncurved score of 50 is a failing grade, you'd need curving to make that system work. A curve is inherently about grading relative to one's peers, and I see no reason why it is required. If your test will have an average score of 50, make that a B (or whatever), and perhaps 75 and A. Just do it and fix it to those grades. Do not keep changing the threshold based on your current batch of students. I think the fundamental differences between the two camps boils down to this question: Should grades be an absolute measure or a relative measure? I'm strongly in the absolute camp.

smallnamespace 10y ago
> If your test will have an average score of 50, make that a B (or whatever), and perhaps 75 and A. Just do it and _fix_ it to those grades. That's still a form of curving, since you can't know ahead of time on a new test how students will do. E.g. if you arbitrarily fixed it at 50 / 75 and your students do a lot worse than you expected, do you just fail the lot of them? If not, and you move the score thresholds lower, then that's just what curving is. In fact, I had a couple of professors who told us ahead of time that curving could only be used to adjust our scores upward, but never downward, e.g. 70% was passing, but so was 60%, if enough of the class did poorly. Made the students feel much better, since they had a fixed bar to reach. Seems like you'd be satisfied though if the curve used at least ~100 students to calculate so that it didn't change much due to random variation (e.g. if your class is small, aggregate multiple years of data)? Still a form of curving (since you are, at the end of the day, being compared to other students), just with different methodology.