James Haynes

Basis for Evaluation

During the '90s, when I was on the faculty at Texas A&M, with the Department Head's approval, I decided to change my method of evaluation for a course in astronomy to see if I could increase student class attendance and motivation. Instead of the standard midterm, infrequent quizzes, term paper and final examination, I substituted in the syllabus the evaluation consisting of 15 different quizzes randomly given within the 1st 10 minutes of class, the average of which represented 70% of the grade, a term paper on any subject remotely associated with astronomy representing 20%, the final examination representing 5%, and 5% based upon student participation/attendance. If a student had an "A" or "B" going into the finals, I would refuse entry to my examination room (cheers from the students in question); if the student had a solid "C", the final was optional. If a "D" the exam was mandatory, and if an "F", it was optional if there were a chance of making a "D".

To my pleasure, the class average grade scores increased 9 points, attendance was nearly 100% each class day (mostly because they didn't know if a quiz were to be given. Missing a quiz resulted in a zero score), group projects participation and quality were superior to prior classes, and there was less than 1% of my students present at my final examinations. The quality of the term papers greatly increased, surprising me with the initiative shown in both the selection of subject matter and the diversity of research. More importantly, student morale went through the roof! As a result, again with the Department Head's approval, I used a similar method of evaluation for all my other subjects, with similar results.