Course Grades and Student Ratings of Instruction

USES AND ADVANTAGES OF COURSE GRADES

1. Calculating cumulative grade-point averages
2. Providing general feedback to students on their performance relative to other students (whether reference is instructor’s standard or class curve)
3. Identifying students in need of remedial courses or programs or support services
4. Selecting students for Honors Programs or Academic enrichment
5. Indicating to departments how students are performing relative to one another at any given point in time.
6. Reflecting student academic integration and compliance with academic norms and requirements
7. Expelling/suspending students for poor academic performance
8. Awarding academic honors at graduation
9. Making graduate/professional school admission decisions
10. Making employment hiring decisions

DISADVANTAGES OF COURSE GRADES

• Institution type and selectivity
• The student’s major field of study, class attendance, and level of active participation in the class
• Predominant mode of instruction in the course
• Course grading policies (curve vs. standard of attainment)
• Instructor’s academic rank and experience
• Professional style, personality, and variable standards
• Congruence between teaching style and learning style
• Department Culture

College course grades may NOT tell us much of value about:

• How much students actually know or what their competencies or skills are:
• How much students have learned (changed in knowledge or skill level) as a consequence of a course or program:
• IF learning has occurred, what elements of the course or program had the most/least impact on the learning.

MYTHS AND REALITIES OF STUDENT RATINGS OF INSTRUCTION

Myths

• Students are not qualified to make judgments about teaching competence.
• Student ratings are popularity contests.
• Students are not able to make accurate judgments until they have been away from the course for several years.
• Student ratings are unreliable.
• Student ratings are invalid.
• Students rate instructors on the basis of the grades they receive.
• Extraneous variables and conditions affect student ratings.

Realities

• Students are qualified to rate certain dimensions of teaching.
• Students do discriminate among dimensions of teaching and do not judge solely on the popularity of instructors.
• Ratings by current students are highly correlated with those of former students/alumni.
• Student ratings are reliable in terms of both agreement (similarity among the students rating a course and the instructor) and stability (the extent to which the same student rates the course and the instructor similarly at two different times).
• Student ratings are valid, as measured against a number of criteria, particularly students’ learning.
• Students ratings are not unduly influenced by the grades students receive or expect to receive.
• Student ratings are not unduly affected by such external factors as student characteristics, course characteristics, and teacher characteristics.

GRADE AND STUDENT RATINGS:

• What are the students learning and how do we know?
• Are students meeting the faculty’s standards of attainment?
• What are the instructional areas of comparative strength and weakness?
• Are the various instructional programs meeting student expectations and goals?
• Is there evidence that the student learning and instructional quality is improving?

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