Grades Education

If you have ever rolled your eyes when your child says a teacher's grade was unfair, you might want to think again. Your child might be right. Douglas Reeves, an expert on grading systems, conducted an experiment with more than 10,000 educators that he says proves just how subjective grades can be. Reeves asked teachers and administrators in the United States, Australia, Canada and South America to determine a final semester grade for...

Vanessa Perez was a homework scofflaw. The Marshall High School senior didn't finish all of it -- largely because she worked 24 hours a week at a Subway sandwich shop. Alvaro Ramirez, a junior at the Santee Education Complex, doesn't have his own room and his mother baby-sits young children at night. "They're always there and they're always loud," he said, explaining his challenges with homework. The nation's second-largest school system has decided to give students like these a break.

The American Bar Assn. has told Chapman University that it has "grave doubt" that the university's fledgling law school has a competent faculty capable of "effective teaching." In a letter explaining why the law school fell short of earning ABA accreditation, the bar association decried the school's lack of comprehensive peer review and evaluation that would assess the faculty's legal scholarship and teaching methods.

Students at Loyola Law School in downtown Los Angeles have managed to boost their grade-point averages slightly -- and they didn't even have to study any harder. The 1,300-student school has adjusted its grading formula for current students and recent graduates to match the scales of other California schools, officials said Friday. But the move, which raised the average mark by a third of a grade, also prompted allegations of grade inflation. The change was intended to ensure that graduates compete for jobs on an equal footing with other law schools' graduates and are not hurt by what had been a slightly tougher grading system, said Loyola Law School Dean Victor J. Gold.

A battle over academic standards at Irvine Valley College has landed in Superior Court, with a veteran writing professor suing administrators for raising a student's grade. Hugh Glenn, who has been teaching at the college since its founding 25 years ago, gave a student a "D" for a class taken in spring, 1991. The student had successfully completed all course requirements except submitting an acceptable term paper, Glenn said.

In a test of academic standards, a veteran Irvine Valley College writing professor urged a Superior Court commissioner Wednesday to reinstate a failing course grade he gave a student in 1991. Hugh W. Glenn, who has taught writing at Irvine Valley College for 13 years, sued Saddleback Community College District officials last year over their decision to change, without his permission, the student's course grade from a failing "D" to a passing "C."

Stanford University senior Cory Sammons knew he was in over his head as soon as he opened the final exam in his introductory physics class two years ago. Juggling three other classes, holding down a part-time job and playing on the ice hockey team, the 22-year-old engineering major had not spent much time reading his textbook or memorizing formulas. So Sammons nonchalantly did what many Stanford students do in such a situation--he deliberately flunked the test.

Some high school seniors may have scoffed at warnings about partying instead of studying this spring. But nagging counselors and parents turn out to have been right: A senior-year slump can have painful repercussions. In June and July, elite universities in California and across the country increasingly are revoking admission offers to students whose grades originally were good enough to gain acceptance but whose final exams and transcripts took a dive into Ds or worse.

None of them will become valedictorian, but some of the brightest 17- and 18-year-olds in Huntington Beach will be graduating summa cum laude before they ever set foot on a college campus. For years, high schools have been retreating from singling out students as valedictorians and salutatorians to ease the competition and pressure that the quest for the top class rankings can place on teenagers. Some high schools have found a solution in recognizing dozens of valedictorians.

Vanessa Perez was a homework scofflaw. The Marshall High School senior didn't finish all of it -- largely because she worked 24 hours a week at a Subway sandwich shop. Alvaro Ramirez, a junior at the Santee Education Complex, doesn't have his own room and his mother baby-sits young children at night. "They're always there and they're always loud," he said, explaining his challenges with homework. The nation's second-largest school system has decided to give students like these a break.

None of them will become valedictorian, but some of the brightest 17- and 18-year-olds in Huntington Beach will be graduating summa cum laude before they ever set foot on a college campus. For years, high schools have been retreating from singling out students as valedictorians and salutatorians to ease the competition and pressure that the quest for the top class rankings can place on teenagers. Some high schools have found a solution in recognizing dozens of valedictorians.

If you have ever rolled your eyes when your child says a teacher's grade was unfair, you might want to think again. Your child might be right. Douglas Reeves, an expert on grading systems, conducted an experiment with more than 10,000 educators that he says proves just how subjective grades can be. Reeves asked teachers and administrators in the United States, Australia, Canada and South America to determine a final semester grade for...

The NCAA's latest academic report shows USC and UCLA athletes performing well in the classroom, but the news wasn't as good at two other Southern California universities. The men's basketball team at Pepperdine was hit with a scholarship loss because it fell short of the lowest acceptable score for the Academic Progress Rate. The men's outdoor track squad at Cal State Fullerton took a .66 scholarship reduction.

Nearly three dozen students and former students at a Northern California community college face felony charges in an alleged grades-for-cash scam, prosecutors said Tuesday. Contra Costa County Dist. Atty. Robert Kochly said his office has filed 65 counts of computer fraud and conspiracy charges following an investigation into allegations that some employees at Diablo Valley College were paid to change or add grades in the computer system.

Some high school seniors may have scoffed at warnings about partying instead of studying this spring. But nagging counselors and parents turn out to have been right: A senior-year slump can have painful repercussions. In June and July, elite universities in California and across the country increasingly are revoking admission offers to students whose grades originally were good enough to gain acceptance but whose final exams and transcripts took a dive into Ds or worse.

The stampede of student athletes up Figueroa Street from USC to Los Angeles Trade Tech College nearly two miles away drew curious attention during summer school registration at the downtown community college last June. Among those signing up were three 300-pound Trojans linemen, including one with academic troubles at the university.

Maria Chavez had drawn zeros for blowing off her first two assignments in English, and in a normal year that would have been no problem. Without much strain, the El Cajon Valley High School senior could have hoisted her F average to a D, the minimum passing grade. "I was, like, the kind of student who would settle for a D," she said. This year, her school wouldn't let her.

College athletes, especially basketball and football players, spend more time on their sports in season than they do on their classes and get lower grades than students involved in other time-consuming extracurricular activities, a year-long study by the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. showed. The study, based on confidential questionnaires from 4,083 college athletes as well as students in other activities at 42 NCAA member institutions, was the first of its kind.

The NCAA's new method for gauging how athletes perform in the classroom produced its first results Monday with a report that gave a passing grade to most teams across the nation but showed that others -- including some bowl-bound football squads -- continue to falter. The graduation success rate, or GSR, is part of a sweeping reform by which the NCAA hopes to make teams accountable for more than wins and losses.

'Re "A Formula for More Math Teachers," June 1: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger deserves widespread congratulations for his proposal to get more credentialed math and science teachers in our public schools to alleviate the chronic shortage. Over half of California high schools have teachers of physics who do not even have a minor in physics. Schwarzenegger's plan to have fully qualified science and math teachers after four years of college, rather than the usual five or six, is a great step forward, as is his proposal to have paid internships and forgivable loans.