Professor removed for tough grading (Grade inflation has become the norm at LSU)

American Thinker ^ | 04/16/2010 | Thomas Lifson

[SeekAndFind]

Grade inflation appears to have become policy at Louisiana State University, where Professor Dominique G. Homberger was removed from teaching an introductory biology course for giving tough grades. USA Today reports that the professor

... gives brief quizzes at the beginning of every class, to assure attendance and to make sure students are doing the reading. On her tests, she doesn't use a curve, as she believes that students must achieve mastery of the subject matter, not just achieve more mastery than the worst students in the course. For multiple choice questions, she gives 10 possible answers, not the expected 4, as she doesn't want students to get very far with guessing.

Kevin Carman, dean of the College of Basic Sciences, issued a statement, including:

"The class in question is an entry-level biology class for non-science majors, and, at mid-term, more than 90% of the students in Dr. Homberger's class were failing or had dropped the class. The extreme nature of the grading raised a concern, and we felt it was important to take some action to ensure that our students receive a rigorous, but fair, education. Professor Homberger is not being penalized in any way; her salary has not been decreased nor has any aspect of her appointment been changed."

Professor Homberger was using an ancient and honorable technique, shocking students into realizing how little they know, and how hard they will have to work if they want to become knowledgeable in a particular field. I am still grateful to my high school Latin teacher, Miss Williams, who taught me that grades had to be earned with hard work and endless memorization of verb conjugations. She was known as a holy terror, who whipped youngsters into shape. Whatever academic success I found later in life had something to do with Miss Williams giving me low grades on my first two Latin tests.

Professor Homberger understands this process far better than her dean:

"I believe in these students. They are capable," she said. And given that LSU boasts of being the state flagship, she said, she should hold students to high standards. Many of these students are in their first year, and are taking their first college-level science course, so there is an adjustment for them to make, Homberger said. But that doesn't mean professors should lower standards.

Homberger said she was told that some students had complained about her grades on the first test. "We are listening to the students who make excuses, and this is unfair to the other students," she said. "I think it's unfair to the students" to send a message that the way to deal with a difficult learning situation is "to complain" rather than to study harder.

Has LSU ever removed a professor for giving too many high grades? As a recoverign academic myself, I know that the easiest path is to give high grades. Nobody ever complains. But you cheat the students who could be doing much better.

[meyer]

I never curve grades. What I do is return tests and allow them to correct them with an open book, explaining why the correct answer is correct. I give them “back” half of the the points they lost per question. I only do this on the first test. I’ve found it shows my students how to study and that if they actually read the book, they CAN do well on a test. The grades on their second tests tends to shoot way up. I consider teaching them how to take tests as part of their education.

I like that approach. While the student thinks that they are getting something of a "freebie" (or a half-freebie), what they are actually doing is learning the subject material. Which satisfies the purpose of the class.

Speaking of learning to study (this was some 15+ years ago), my Econ 101 instructor allowed us to create a 'cheat sheet' for one of our tests, but the rule was that we could only use one sheet of paper. I got several chapters of information on one sheet. She commented that I had rewritten the whole textbook.

I took her for Econ 102 also - she only allowed an index card for that test. :-)

Anyway, it turns out that I barely needed to look at the cheat sheet. By creating it, I solidly planted the logic and information into my own mind. In the process of making the sheet, I was learning the material.

[meyer]

However, no one grades on a true Bell Curve, as far as I know.

True - at minimum, the curve is moved so that B is the new "average". Or, it is a very lopsided bell with a distribution something like 10% A, 40% B, 50% C, and 10% D or E/F.

[Terabitten]

That is true. “Curve” often means upward adjustment by the deficit in the highest grade, it’s just not what the word is supposed to mean. It’d be interesting to grade things that way across the board.

I obviously royally screwed up the formatting on my last reply!

Anyway, it's fairly obvious why using a true Bell curve wouldn't work very well in academia - a student could potentially get 98% of the material correct and still fail.

My wife is a college science professor who worked very hard for her PhD. When she grades, she will frequently throw out a question if most or all of the students missed it, because it points to a deficiency on her end of the equation, not on the students'.

Anyone can write a test in which the students are guaranteed to pass. Equally, anyone can write a test in which the students are guaranteed to fail. When 90% of the students in a freshman level general Intro to Biology class are failing, it would appear that the teacher is either failing to teach or intentionally writing the tests so that students will fail.

[Terabitten]

I never curve grades. What I do is return tests and allow them to correct them with an open book, explaining why the correct answer is correct. I give them “back” half of the the points they lost per question. I only do this on the first test. I’ve found it shows my students how to study and that if they actually read the book, they CAN do well on a test. The grades on their second tests tends to shoot way up. I consider teaching them how to take tests as part of their education.

My wife uses much the same technique. What I've found interesting is that the students who need the points the least are typically the ones who will do the work to get the points back. IOW, the student who fails with a 60 typically won't turn in the corrected test, but the student with a 95 will.

[twigs]

My good students almost always take advantage of the “freebie.” But a surprising number of my other students do too. I do it for another reason, too. Only 20% of this class grade is computed by test grades. It’s a hands-on class where there must be a lot of presentations. I’ve found that if students start out with a low test grade that they get discouraged thinking that they will make a low grade in the class no matter what they do. I don’t want that, so it helps all of us if they have the opportunity to do reasonably well on the first test.

[twigs]

That’s quite a “cheat sheet!.” I’m not the least bit surprised that you learned a lot by putting it together. Smart teacher, smart student!

[cammie]

“When she grades, she will frequently throw out a question if most or all of the students missed it, because it points to a deficiency on her end of the equation, not on the students’.”

That’s what I do too — if 70% get it wrong, the question goes. But there have been times that it just means that 70% of the students didn’t read the text, because it was something in the text but not highlighted in a lecture.

[billva]

I never curve grades. What I do is return tests and allow them to correct them with an open book, explaining why the correct answer is correct. I give them “back” half of the the points they lost per question. I only do this on the first test. I’ve found it shows my students how to study and that if they actually read the book, they CAN do well on a test. The grades on their second tests tends to shoot way up. I consider teaching them how to take tests as part of their education.

Twigs, I have enjoyed reading your posts. I teach math, part time now, at the local community college and use much the same approach.

And if 90% of my students were failing I would take a very long look at myself, probably first.

I also do teach them how to take tests and deal with test anxiety.