This fall I gave my students grades for the first time. Of course, my students have received grades from me before, but I was always of the philosophy that those grades should be the ones they had earned.
This semester, that changed. I began giving A’s like gifts. Why? I need to get tenure.
At my midtenure review, I performed excellently in all areas but one — the computerized scores calculated from student evaluations of my teaching. Despite my solid scholarship, a wide range of academic service, great rapport with colleagues, and, most significantly, many strong written testimonials from students praising my teaching, I was warned that my computer scores needed to rise significantly in order for me to be sure of tenure at my small college.
On the written evaluations, students attest that my high standards, impressive expertise, and challenging assignments mean that they learn a great deal in my class. Many students express gratitude for that.
One thought on “Professor Goodgrade”
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This piece says much more about the author’s preoccupation with her own tenure assessment than anything else. She (presumably) likes being known as a “hard” grader–what exactly does that have to do with whether she is doing a good job teaching the course material? She doesn’t seem to like it much when the role is reversed, when her tenure decision is a not made lightly (an easy A) and includes how well she is viewed as an educator, a factor taken more seriously at small colleges where faculty may have little or no research or publication requirements.
Grades should measure the quality of performance, a fair assessment of mastery of the material. When done honestly, an entire class could get A’s or F’s, although if I saw an entire class failing at the college level, I’d be much more suspicious that the problem was with the instructor than the students.