True/False: Issuing an attendance grade is illegal. At least, that's what I've been told. One silver-back at my SLAC insists that the Supreme Court made a ruling on it. What have you been told?
Your silverback is a moron. There have been cases where students have gone to court over attendance based grading, but there is no court ruling that says you can't do it.
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) is the case in which the United States Supreme Court found that Amish children could not be placed under compulsory education past 8th grade. The parents' fundamental right to freedom of religion outweighed the state's interest in educating its children. But that hardly seems relevant.
In fact, if you do the Google with "Supreme Court" and "attendance grade" this post (already!) is the first hit.
Some states apparently have rules about attendance though, but usually when I hear about them it's with regard to attendance being compulsory in order to get graded and loans and things... sort of the exact opposite of your colleague's assertion.
My department pretty much requires some sort of taking of attendance, whether there is a grade or not. It seems that if a student stops attending classes the financial aid folks want to know EXACTLY when they stopped coming. I tell my students it's in case they are abducted by aliens.
Indeed. I think our own "no attendance grades" policy (whether now in abeyance or not) may stem from a faculty vote in the late '60s/early '70s, and I wouldn't be surprised if your silverback (meaning, in this case, child of the sixties concerned with using the power of the professoriat -- such as it is these days -- wisely) were harking back to the thinking (and the Supreme Court) of that era.
I believe we're still forbidden to grade on attendance alone (thought that may have changed/be changing), but we are encouraged to make "participation" worth a modest part of our final grade, and strongly encouraged to base the participation grade on something more concrete than our end-of-semester impression of a student's level of participation (which tends to mean taking attendance, and perhaps scribbling a note or two in addition on the roll when a student participates particularly well -- or proceeds to sleep through the whole class, head down on the desk). Pop quizzes, in-class writings, and other non-make-up-able graded in-class activities are also encouraged (most of us drop one or two to allow for a few necessary absences/bad days).
And the university seems to expect us to take roll. If not, how was I supposed to fill in the "last attended" dates for the half-dozen MIA students for whom I recorded failing grades early this week (the real grades are still to come, but I've found it makes sense to confirm that those who didn't finish the work of the course really did flunk as soon as possible). I'll confess that I often rely on last-access dates in the LMS because it's easier and more provable (and saves searching for the last actual post, which often comes weeks before), but I do check the roll as well.
We are required at the schools I teach at (SUNY 4 year and two community colleges) to track attendance and report last dates of attendance fro students who either fail or stop attending (unofficial withdrawal). We are also allowed to fail students strictly on a failure to adhere to the attendance policy listed on the syllabus. This policy rarely has to be put into effect, however, as students who don't attend on a regular basis never pass the course-if they complete the course they fail due to an inability to demonstrate minimal competence, or, they simply stop attending.
My spouses department at cardinal-direction-state_U here stands by its attendance policy much better than they stand by any rigorous enforcement of plagiarism. If you miss more than X classes, you fail. I'm unsure of how strictly all the faculty enforce it, but the department backs it.
There are numerous people who wish to know last day of attendence, and other info, for various groups. Athletes get someone calling after them, Vets with GI Bill assistance get someone calling after them, the school wants everyone's last day in its own system. They profit based on asses-in-classes, and by golly, they want to know just how many asses they have.
Your silverback is a moron. There have been cases where students have gone to court over attendance based grading, but there is no court ruling that says you can't do it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWisconsin v. Yoder (1972) is the case in which the United States Supreme Court found that Amish children could not be placed under compulsory education past 8th grade. The parents' fundamental right to freedom of religion outweighed the state's interest in educating its children. But that hardly seems relevant.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, if you do the Google with "Supreme Court" and "attendance grade" this post (already!) is the first hit.
As them there Mythical guys say ... BUSTED!
Yeah, that's bull shit.
ReplyDeleteSome states apparently have rules about attendance though, but usually when I hear about them it's with regard to attendance being compulsory in order to get graded and loans and things... sort of the exact opposite of your colleague's assertion.
ReplyDeleteMy department pretty much requires some sort of taking of attendance, whether there is a grade or not. It seems that if a student stops attending classes the financial aid folks want to know EXACTLY when they stopped coming. I tell my students it's in case they are abducted by aliens.
ReplyDeleteI do it in almost every class.
ReplyDeleteThe federal government WANTS to know Last Date of Attendance so they can (try to) get back all that free gubmint money they distribute as grants.
ReplyDeleteThis is a relatively new policy, though, so it most likely came out after your colleague stopped keeping up with the times.
Indeed. I think our own "no attendance grades" policy (whether now in abeyance or not) may stem from a faculty vote in the late '60s/early '70s, and I wouldn't be surprised if your silverback (meaning, in this case, child of the sixties concerned with using the power of the professoriat -- such as it is these days -- wisely) were harking back to the thinking (and the Supreme Court) of that era.
Delete"This is a relatively new policy, though, so it most likely came out after your colleague stopped keeping up with the times."
Delete1956?
I believe we're still forbidden to grade on attendance alone (thought that may have changed/be changing), but we are encouraged to make "participation" worth a modest part of our final grade, and strongly encouraged to base the participation grade on something more concrete than our end-of-semester impression of a student's level of participation (which tends to mean taking attendance, and perhaps scribbling a note or two in addition on the roll when a student participates particularly well -- or proceeds to sleep through the whole class, head down on the desk). Pop quizzes, in-class writings, and other non-make-up-able graded in-class activities are also encouraged (most of us drop one or two to allow for a few necessary absences/bad days).
ReplyDeleteAnd the university seems to expect us to take roll. If not, how was I supposed to fill in the "last attended" dates for the half-dozen MIA students for whom I recorded failing grades early this week (the real grades are still to come, but I've found it makes sense to confirm that those who didn't finish the work of the course really did flunk as soon as possible). I'll confess that I often rely on last-access dates in the LMS because it's easier and more provable (and saves searching for the last actual post, which often comes weeks before), but I do check the roll as well.
We are required at the schools I teach at (SUNY 4 year and two community colleges) to track attendance and report last dates of attendance fro students who either fail or stop attending (unofficial withdrawal). We are also allowed to fail students strictly on a failure to adhere to the attendance policy listed on the syllabus. This policy rarely has to be put into effect, however, as students who don't attend on a regular basis never pass the course-if they complete the course they fail due to an inability to demonstrate minimal competence, or, they simply stop attending.
ReplyDeleteMy spouses department at cardinal-direction-state_U here stands by its attendance policy much better than they stand by any rigorous enforcement of plagiarism. If you miss more than X classes, you fail. I'm unsure of how strictly all the faculty enforce it, but the department backs it.
ReplyDeleteThere are numerous people who wish to know last day of attendence, and other info, for various groups. Athletes get someone calling after them, Vets with GI Bill assistance get someone calling after them, the school wants everyone's last day in its own system. They profit based on asses-in-classes, and by golly, they want to know just how many asses they have.