It happens every year: I'm adding up my final grades on my dandy Excel spreadsheet, so I decide to do some calculations of where my students' grades are going into the final, as well as how a theoretical perfect grade on the final would change said grade. Then I start playing around with what values will get them into a particular grade range. Invariably, there are students who are going to fail no matter how well they do on the final, and some students doing so well, that only a fraction of the points will get them an A.
Q: Is it ethical to not grade the failing students' exams at all? Conversely, is it ethical to stop grading the good students' exams once they reach the number of points necessary to earn an A? Do I care if it's ethical or not if it saves me valuable time over the next week? Have you ever done this or are in the process of doing it right now? Will you grade the rest of my exams for me? :)
A: Answer below!
Oh, sheesh, I don't know about ethics.
ReplyDeleteBut it's always a good idea to grade it all.
Have I ever not...well, yeah, but not if you're going to get all ethics-y on me.
I work on a point system and sometimes it's entirely impossible for a student to finish anywhere other than where he/she already is. I just alert them. This is especially fun with A students. "Skip the finals...you've got the grade."
ReplyDeleteEvery once in a long while, a failing student does fucktasticly well on the final and I am so impressed that I give them the low low low passing grade--even though they technically didn't earn it according to the mathematical rubric thingy on the syllabus. So that's why I grade those. Or not. It depends on what mood I'm in.
ReplyDeleteDepending on how the course points end up, I do this -- in my Ethics classes :). If they can't pass, don't bother. If they only need 4/50 points to get an A -- don't bother.
ReplyDeleteThis has only started to cause problems for me once I used an on-line gradebook... because the A students want to see their A on the final as well, and the F students want to know that they were only 30ish points shy of a D...
There is a huge difference between "Grade" and "glance at." If the person already has the A, glance at it to ensure it wasn't gibberish, mark the A and move on. If it's sure to fail, find something on each page that makes it a failing grade and go from there.
ReplyDeleteI do have to say, though, if you are looking for extra time, I wouldn't obsess over the maths of the grade before the final. That's ideal researching/writing/drinking time.
Unless you're worried about borderline cases, no.
ReplyDeleteBut be sure to document the appropriate Doomed/Moot codes.
Oh now there's an idea cerberus! Allow early submission for a grade of Doomed.
ReplyDeleteThen the students, their parents, the registrar, and the financial aid folks would all know that this student should stop the bleeding now!
Stop grading once the final grade will not change. Spend the extra time with the hooch.
ReplyDeleteI've sent students who were gonna get an A no matter what home. I've told them not to come. The people who are failing and can't pass get to come though, and will be graded. If I catch them cheating, well....
ReplyDeleteI guess that I'm a stickler in that I do a compulsory comprehensive final. Moreover, it's weighted heavily enough that students need to take it in order to pass the course, much less earn A/B.
ReplyDeleteIn part to catch students who have been plagiarizing throughout the semester, I also weight the final quite heavily and mark it carefully. Only then do I bother with the math. I learned long ago, though, that students almost never come back to look at their finals so I never bother with comments anymore. Just in case, though, they are always marked from start to finish.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do occasionally stop reading an essay if, after the first few pages, it has failed so catastrophically that there is no chance of redemption. Even so, I give comments which are, at least in theory, constructive.
ReplyDeleteSince we're required to comment on papers, I hand back all final papers on the day of the final, as they walk out. I was so sick of the stacks of commented-upon papers that were never picked up.
ReplyDeleteBut finals? We're required to hang onto them for a year, and I have never had anyone pick theirs up.
I grade all of 'em (papers) no matter what and then (after posting the final grades) put them in a drawer. I probably only average 10% who ask for them back, but I'd rather be ready (particularly for any internal queries about this-or-that student).
ReplyDeleteAt Big Online Corporate U, we have to comment on everything and there is no "break," so there is no getting out of grading anything. Your situation might be different. If the students just disappear for the summer or whatever, then no, don't grade the stuff that doesn't matter. In four years of college (and four years of high school, for that matter), I never got any feedback on a single final exam and I am not scarred for life as the admin seems to think our charges would be if we just gave them a number now and then.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I actually like giving lots of feedback on term papers. I give more feedback on two or three student term papers than I got for written work in my whole college edcuation at Small Elite College.
I agree with Bubba on the possibility of grading up if a massive improvement shows up. At least glance at all the papers and see.
Towards the end of the semester I let the class know that I can override the syllabus with respect to the grading policy if a student who has little chance of passing, based on the points accumulated up to that point. In other words, if I see a stellar performance on the final I'll assign a passing grade, albeit a "D" if the calculated grade is still a failing one. Usually it doesn't make a difference, although in one class I did have two students that ended up passing where they would have had no chance mathematically of earning a passing grade.
ReplyDelete