<p>Does anyone know where to find the grade distribution report for courses at OSU? I used Google and could find the information for some other universities and colleges, but nothing came up for OSU. Thanks.</p>
<p>Also, is there a place to find out the average GPA of students by major?</p>
<p>Some of the colleges have their average GPA’s posted somewhere on the internet. I’m sure that I’ve seen figures for the college of business on Business Week. Certain programs (like honors programs will show figures)</p>
<p>I don’t know about the rest of the university.</p>
<p>Sportsmama, I, too, have been interested in seeing this so today I called and asked where I could find it. They don’t have one. Isn’t that convenient? </p>
<p>I’m very frustrated right now. We are finding that my straight A h.s. student (now a freshman) is getting the average grade of 60-something in his math classes. In the end, he’ll end up with an A because they grade on the curve, but he and everyone else is having to spend extra time going for help. It also seems between the lecture teacher and the recitative teacher, only one of them can be understood. His current math teacher writes the correct number on the board and then calls it the wrong name. She asks the class what things (like the blackboard) are called in English. The average grades reflect the quality of teaching, in my opinion. And for the money we’re paying our students shouldn’t be teaching English as a second language to their primary instructors. </p>
<p>Color me frustrated!</p>
<p>AimHigh, I feel your pain. I have been very frustrated, too.</p>
<p>“We are finding that my straight A h.s. student (now a freshman) is getting the average grade of 60-something in his math classes. In the end, he’ll end up with an A because they grade on the curve, but he and everyone else is having to spend extra time going for help.”</p>
<p>I don’t know what math class your son is taking, but I wouldn’t count on the curve as a sure way to end up with an A. It seems to depend on the class and on the professor. </p>
<p>My daughter took one class where she had an 82 average. There were just a few people who scored above her; most of the class was well below her average. She still didn’t get an A. She ended up with a B+ in the class (after the curve). Her friend, in another section, had an average in the low sixties, but ended up with a C-. Hmm. . . go figure. Maybe it’s the luck of the draw–both the professor and your classmates.</p>
<p>Wonderful. DS is only a freshman, so we’re still figuring things out. His math teacher the first semester graded on a curve. He’s currently in 151. I cannot understand why a school like this doesn’t have online distribution reports. My older son attends Indiana University and they have them online.</p>
<p>They do have distribution reports, they just aren’t public. My son has shown them to me. I forget the name of the system, but it’s the one that has their online grades. He was able to display a grade distribution for every graded item in most classes.</p>
<p>He did his best to anticipate what the grading curve would be. The best we can tell it’s highly subjective based upon the professor. His second guessing was only about 80% accurate.</p>
<p>Please enlighten me…why is a grade distribution report so important or important at all? </p>
<p>Tests and grades should help a student determine his/her weaknesses and strengths and work to correct or enhance those. What steps are our students taking to learn more of the concepts that will be required later? Or are we just getting above the imaginary curve and hoping that others will fall below us? Is education only about the grade? Shouldn’t achieving below par on one test spur us to learn the missed material and do better on the next and final test? College is to be more difficult and is to be a “true” learning experience.</p>
<p>rleffler, I think you’re referring to Carmen? I’ll have my son look there. Thank you for that information. I would have thought OSU could have directed me there when I called yesterday.</p>
<p>Mama, a distribution report tells you how the teacher is grading and how most of the kids are faring in the class. A low grade can be a result of poor preparation on the part of the student or something else. When the average scores are in the 60’s and 50’s, and specific teachers are constantly grading on a curve, wouldn’t you say there’s a problem?</p>
<p>“Is education only about the grade?”</p>
<p>No, Mama4, but the scholarship is. I have seen the grade distribution reports that rleffler is talking about. These were available online to my daughter in some, but not all, of the classes she has taken. I would like to see this information for all classes. I noticed that some universities have this information available to the public.</p>
<p>I understand from reading information on the engineering forum that it is common for grades to be low on engineering midterms and exams. I have a hard time dealing with this–and this has nothing to do with scholarships or GPA. If the students are intelligent and motivated and the professors are doing a good job teaching, why are so many students getting failing/poor grades? There is a disconnect somewhere. As a teacher, I question what I could have done better if my students do poorly on an assessment. In college, it’s just the way it is. </p>
<p>My daughter is an engineering major, but she still has to maintain the same GPA as someone in another major in order to keep her scholarship. It won’t change anything, but I am curious as to what the average GPAs of other majors are.</p>
<p>Your response to grading on a curve is rhetorical. Yes, I am familiar with grade distributions. </p>
<p>There is no rule that grades in a class have to be on a curve or that a professor must use a curve. If only one achieves at the A level, then only 1 A should be assigned to the student who has earned that. The problem with a curve is that those who did not do well want to get credit for not knowing the content. Math exams may test on materials in the textbook, presented in lectures,given in supplementary materials, or covered previously. As you may be aware, in the MAT 151 series, all the material is based on the previous concepts. Is it good that students know only a fraction of the content?</p>
<p>Our students have to learn to go above and beyond just doing a couple of math problems and think that they know the material. Competition at a higher level is good.</p>
<p>SportsMama writes “As a teacher, I question what I could have done better if my students do poorly on an assessment. In college, it’s just the way it is.”</p>
<p>Are we to settle for that is just the way it is? Maybe it is not just teachers doing a better job, but all must take an active role in doing better. Maybe some never learned the basic concepts and are still struggling in the advance level classes. Some do well in the beginning advance math classes; however, lack the skills to continue at higher levels. What can be done? I believe, some are lacking skills that should have been learned in earlier grade levels. A curve aids in covering up the fact that the student is not ready to proceed.</p>
<p>Your response to grading on a curve is rhetorical. Yes, I am familiar with grade distributions. </p>
<p>There is no rule that grades in a class have to be on a curve or that a professor must use a curve. If only one achieves at the A level, then only 1 A should be assigned to the student who has earned that. The problem with a curve is that those who did not do well want to get credit for not knowing the content. Math exams may test on materials in the textbook, presented in lectures,given in supplementary materials, or covered previously. As you may be aware, in the MAT 151 series, all the material is based on the previous concepts. Is it good that students know only a fraction of the content?</p>
<p>Our students have to learn to go above and beyond just doing a couple of math problems and think that they know the material. Competition at a higher level is good.</p>
<p>No, there is no rule that says there has to be a curve. I find it unacceptable, however, for only a handful of students (I believe it was only two or three, but I can’t remember as it was a few quarter ago) out of 840 students to score over a 90% on a final exam. I can’t remember the numbers, but the amount of students who didn’t do well was rather high. </p>
<p>The only students taking this math were either math or engineering majors. Why did so many do poorly? I would think that most of them were strong math students or they wouldn’t be in those majors.</p>
<p>My daughter scored in the top 50 of the 840 students, but that isn’t good enough.</p>
<p>No, I don’t think students should know only a fraction of the content. I also don’t think my daughter should lose her scholarship if she is above the average GPA of an engineering major–but we don’t know what that is. </p>
<p>Yes, I’m whining. Sorry. I am just very frustrated. I know there are bigger problems in life than possibly losing a scholarship.</p>
<p>Mama, I’m sure you’ll have some hard nosed response, but my son does go above and beyond and still finds that he, and others in the class, are all struggling. When a teacher consistently has most students getting failing grades (prior to any curving), then there’s a disconnect as Sportsmama has stated. You can choose to believe it’s all the students fault, that they’re not doing enough, but that’s not always the case.</p>
<p>Aimhigh and Sportsmama, I am hearing the same things from my engineering son. Actually, his calculus prof. last semester was teaching things WRONG! Students were correcting him in class. My s stopped going to lecture and only went to recitations and his grades popped back up. </p>
<p>Now, he has a couple more professors that he can’t understand. For freshman engineers (honors engineers, even) at the top-ranked engineering school in Ohio, this is a very bad commentary.</p>
<p>Ohiomomma, thank you for weighing in. This is so frustrating. You brought to mind another issue DS had during his first semester, which was that he double checked his exams when they were returned and found that some answers were marked wrong when they were right. His recitation teacher told him it was up to the discretion of the lecture teacher (the primary teacher) as to whether or not she would change the grade. Luckily, she always did change it in his case, but it makes me wonder if some teachers don’t. </p>
<p>I can understand the need for foreign math teachers. There’s a shortage in our country leading to this problem. I think the problem is that in many cases where the lecture hall has 300 kids, and it’s impossible to ask a question, the students are then left to try and get it resolved with a recitation teacher who doesn’t understand English or has a very thick accent and the kids can’t understand what’s being said. It’s frustrating beyond belief that we’re paying this kind of money and the kids are going to all their sessions, plus additional sessions, and then having to seek out other options. </p>
<p>And again, if the majority of the class is failing math, when they’re not failing anything else, resulting in having to curve class after class, something is wrong.</p>
<p>First, I understand the frustrations that you are experiencing. All of want our children to excel and succeed. My response was not to be hard nosed; however, we must face facts that some have not learned the basic advanced level math skills. That is just a fact. </p>
<p>You are right; something is wrong. They have earned the passing grades by using curves and extra credit and maybe even complaining parents…especially in high school: “My child got an A in Mrs. ____ class. So they deserve an A in this one. You are teaching WRONG!” So, what happens. Teachers, administrators succumb to the parents and the whining students. The instructors know the the class does not understand, but they dare not say so. So, the class material is dumbed down and partial credit is given because “He/She tries so hard.” </p>
<p>So, the colleges have to weed them out. The potentially brillant mathematical mind will not, can not, take the pressure. I think this is the sadder commentary. </p>
<p>Do you really want an engineer designing a product who just gotten by and complained through every difficult math class or any other class.</p>
<p>I know scholarships are at stake, but is it really all about the money? Or something else? One fumble, one slow down, one repeated class is not going to make them lose a scholarship. Figure it out yourself and stop scaring the kids. </p>
<p>Blaming a “foreign accent” or “teacher making a mistake on the board” are not good reasons. The professor with a foreign accent is speaking English. Too many parents rise to the forefront to complain instead of encouraging our students to seek real answers and leave it alone. Instead, many get on a bandwagon to put blame somewhere, certainly not on themselves. Not only the students, but also the faculty, the high school curriculm, the parents share in this dilemna. The students have to grow up! We have to let our students grow up! We (professors, administrators, too) all have to share in getting things back on track.</p>
<p>"Students were correcting him in class. My s stopped going to lecture and only went to recitations and his grades popped back up. "</p>
<p>There is nothing noble about glouting when the instructor makes a mistake on the board. That is why they have erasers at the end of pencils.</p>
<p>Certainly, this is not what those on this thread want to hear; however, statements like this lead to the student denigrating the professor and the class and eventually the institution.</p>
<p>They should catch a mistake; that means they are paying attention! The question should be what is your response when your student tells you this? Turn it into a positive. Let our thoughts be at a higher level.</p>
<p>You have not only proven that you do not understand anything we’re saying, you twist what people have posted. Who said a student correcting someone is gloating? </p>
<p>I doubt you have a child in college yet, but even if you did, I do not believe you would get it. You seem intent on arguing that people are wrong and obviously (to you) we are enabling our children who are lazy whiners.</p>
<p>I think you’ve offended us enough. I know you’ve offended ME.</p>