Attendance Points! Rounding off grades

[HigherEd7]

Should you give students attendance points for coming to class at the end of the semester? What is the thought of rounding off grades for example 59.02 to a D?

[onthefringe]

Should you give students attendance points for coming to class at the end of the semester?

What, like bonus points for bothering to come to the last class(es)? I vote no, just follow your syllabus.

In future years, set up policies that gently encourage such attendance. I have unannounced in-class activities that are graded for completion/effort. It is well known that they frequently pop up on traditionally low attendance days (last lecture before a break, lecture before an exam etc). Even though I drop the lowest two, the fear of missing one seems to drive up attendance.

What is the thought of rounding off grades for example 59.02 to a D?

I tell my students I can either give partial credit on exams and problem sets or round at the end, and that mathematically they want partial credit much more than they want rounding.

I will round at the hundreths place (so a 59.97 would round, but a 59.60 would not).

That said, in a large class, I tend to set my breakpoints between grades in breaks in the grade distribution. So if there were a closter of people around 60% and then this person at 59.02, and then the next cluster of people started at 57%, I would probably give a D for the 59.02, especially if I could see a trend of improvement or something like that.

[polly_mer]

What is the value to you as a professor to spend so much effort on the edge cases right at the end?  Like onthefringe, I set up the class to be generous to the students who were doing what they were supposed to be doing all along (e.g., partial credit on problems, additional points earned opportunities during class). 

Under that system, anyone who needs even more rounding at the very end has either blown off many, many opportunities for "easy" points or has already been generously rounded well beyond the estimated measurement error in the overall class.  Thus, as one of my mentors put it, the Wiley E. Coyote cliff applies and anyone who is on the wrong side of the cliff falls into the lower grade at the end because they didn't do enough during the term.

[HigherEd7]

I always drop the lowest quiz grade and discussion grade, and I have a couple of students who have emailed me asking for points because they are close to a D or C I have not seen these students at all this semester!!

[HigherEd7]

Thanks and I agree

What is the value to you as a professor to spend so much effort on the edge cases right at the end?  Like onthefringe, I set up the class to be generous to the students who were doing what they were supposed to be doing all along (e.g., partial credit on problems, additional points earned opportunities during class). 

Under that system, anyone who needs even more rounding at the very end has either blown off many, many opportunities for "easy" points or has already been generously rounded well beyond the estimated measurement error in the overall class.  Thus, as one of my mentors put it, the Wiley E. Coyote cliff applies and anyone who is on the wrong side of the cliff falls into the lower grade at the end because they didn't do enough during the term.

[fast_and_bulbous]

I never did rounding - the way I've done it is I have a published scale and it's non-negotiable, and calculated automatically (Blackboard is good for something).

I once had a student who got his first A- ever, and wasn't too happy about it. He was hair's breadth from an A. But, that's the way the cookie bounces.

I have always been generous with partial credit (I gave lots of short answer/problem solving questions in undergrad classes) so I figured it all worked out in the end.

[Antiphon1]

Follow the college grade scale.  59.anything is an F at my place.  However, you do have discretion in assigning grades. I've bumped students who are on the fence with some distinctions - I very rarely bump to an A or a D.  As Polly stated, students have plenty of opportunities to earn points during the semester rather than counting on mercy from me after the semester ends.  Shining apples for an A is about ego; begging for a D is wishful thinking - IMHO.

[Caracal]

I round all grades to the nearest round number, so an 89.5 and above will be an A. Lower than that, it depends on the overall breakdown of grades and potentially on extenuating circumstances. If you were terribly ill all semester, missed a bunch of classes because of that, but stayed in touch and tried your best and end up at 69.2, I'm going to round that up.

[HigherEd7]

Thank you for the responses!

[Golazo]

I round all grades to the nearest round number, so an 89.5 and above will be an A. Lower than that, it depends on the overall breakdown of grades and potentially on extenuating circumstances. If you were terribly ill all semester, missed a bunch of classes because of that, but stayed in touch and tried your best and end up at 69.2, I'm going to round that up.

Caracal is wise--this is a humane and fair approach and the example is apt. This is generally my practice as well.

In terms of points for low attendance days, I sometimes do a low stakes extra credit assignment on a low attendance day--which replaces a grade for something else if higher. Word gets around.

[Aster]

I do the opposite of awarding attendance points.

Instead, I take away extra credit points (from scheduled extra credit work) for absences and tardies.

Attendance and being on-time has never been higher since I started doing that.

And yeah, rounding up half a percent on borderline grades is pretty common. Rounding up more than that is more situational and specific to certain students and circumstances, like Caracal said.