Abstract
Teachers of large classes often employ multiple graders to score student work. Even when appropriate measures are taken to insure that scoring by different graders is consistent, inconsistencies nevertheless occur. To adjust for them, instructors sometimes normalize grades mathematically, typically by scaling each grader group's score to an average of points earned. Scaling to an average has undesirable traits, including the difficulty of convincing students that it is fair. We developed an easy-to-explain method that adjusts scores so that the average number of points lost by students in each grader's group is the same. We discuss how to compute the adjustment and its advantages and limitations.
- "CSE 110 - Spring 2001: Introduction to Computer Science," at www.ug.cs.sunysb.edu/~cse110/ courseinfo110/courseinfo110.html.Google Scholar
- "CSE 114 - Spring 1997: Computer Science I," at www.cs.sunysb.edu/~abhik/114/files/course-info.html.Google Scholar
- "Normalizing Grades (Minute Paper, 20Feb96, MacIsaac)," at www.phy.nau.edu/~danmac/Course_HomePages/Purdue/phys152/spring96/QandATopix/Feb96QandA.html.Google Scholar
- Johnston, Isaac; Herrmann, Swannee; Conklin, Jennifer. A Model for the Analysis of Inflated Grades. Eastern Oregon University Science Journal, (1998), on line version at scijou.eou.edu/scijou98/node96.html through scijou.eou.edu/scijou98/node121.html.Google Scholar
- "Normalizing Section Grades: Barnes-Billingsley contraction formula" at www.physics.purdue.edu/~daniela/GRADE_NORM.htmlGoogle Scholar
- "Grading Practices," at uga.berkeley.edu/sled/bgd/grading.html, an update of Chapter 32 of Davis, Barbara Gross. (1993). Tools for Teaching, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.Google Scholar
- Shub Charles M.; Astrachan, Owen; Levine, David; Reges, Stuart and Walker, Henry. Faster, fairer, and more consistent grading, using techniques from the Advanced Placement reading (panel session). Proceedings of the twenty-first SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education (1990), Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- A method for normalizing students' scores when employing multiple graders
Comments