Grade inflation? Test/examinations

One explicit premise underlying my previous posts on grade inflation is
that the students be fully informed, when a course begins, on what they are
expected to learn as they take the course.

That requires that the instructors have responsibly analyzed and then set
forth the subject matter of that course.

That is a matter of "curriculum."

The exchange of posts on this topic have been most instructive,
demonstrating a variety of discordant views on _how_ to teach, _what_ to
teach, how to examine (a single exam), and how to reach a grade for a
course from a number of exams, term papers, lab exercises, or
whatever.  One or two posts suggest that there's some information out
there!  And all suggest that Mickey Keenan's post on those five monkeys is
exactly on target.

So, first, what behaviors are we trying to enable students to
acquire?  What are we seeking to add to their behavioral repertory?  What
do we want to be sure they _know_ after we have 'taught them?'  _Know_, a
bad "ontological," even "metaphysical," word--bait for philosophers--but a
word we "know" how to use in conversing.

Given the great variety of issues and practices raised by respondents, it
seems advisable to narrow this post to a single problem--that is, to the
single "tests" or "examinations" given to determine how much verbal
material that an instructor has taught can be reproduced by the student.

Stated differently, how much has taking the course added to the student's
repertory of "intraverbals."  Further posts may deal with 'oral' and
'essay' samples of behavior that do not restrict either examiner or student
to spoken or written, heard or read verbal behavior.

Nor need we consider how to instruct anyone how to be a "genius," someone
who develops something altogether new and different--what the instructor
could _not_ teach (This rules out the "contributions to knowledge" made by
the cookie-cutter procedures taught by the requirements for the Ph.D.).

We're writing about almost every one of us!

Bill V.
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    William S. Verplanck          [email protected]
  An award-winning site: http://web.utk.edu/~wverplan/
    http://web.utk.edu/~wverplan/kantor/kantor.html
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