Exit Exams 2012

Summary of Exit Exam Process for ENG095 and ENG111/ SPRING 2012

Week 12 (April 16-22)

Readings and prompts distributed to instructors.  As usual, we will ask instructors to photocopy suitable numbers of readings for each section for distribution during week 13.  Instructors will also receive exam prompts, which are not to be distributed to the students until the actual exam sessions.  Students may not have advance access to the prompts, only to the readings upon which the prompts are based. 

Week 13 (April 23-April 29)

Readings distributed to students in anticipation of week 14 exam. Students may annotate the reading.  They may bring in the annotated reading to the exam.  However, they may not bring in additional notes or outlines or other types of prewriting.  Further, the instructor doesn’t “prep” the reading with students.

Week 14 (April 30-May 6)

First administration of the exam.  Students write the exams in class.  They may not receive additional help.  They may consult a dictionary. Students may use scratch paper to do prewriting and plan and draft.  Instructor should oversee the collection of all of this material at the end of the session. Past experience has shown that a standard seventy-five minute period is sufficient for most students to write an exam.  However, some students do struggle at the end, particularly those students who come to English as a second language. At the instructor’s discretion students may receive some additional time to complete their exam.  The only stipulation is that the students must be monitored by the instructor.  Instructors should also be mindful of classes that may be scheduled to meet during the next period.

Grading sessions.  Full-time day faculty are scheduled to meet during the Tuesday 1 p.m. activity hour.  Part-time faculty will meet either Thursday, May 3, 4:00 p.m. (ENG095: C202 lecture hall; ENG111: E421 Culinary Arts dining room) or Saturday morning, May 5, at 9:30 a.m. (room E450 Culinary Arts function room).  (A stipend is paid for the Thursday evening and Saturday morning sessions.)  See below for additional information about grading procedures for ENG095 and ENG111.

Notifying students of the results.  If a class meets twice per week, instructors can use the second session to go over exams with students who need to re-take the exam.  [Note:  students may see exams, but the instructor retains the exams.]  The instructor can then give the week 15 reading to students who need to re-take.  Evening, weekend and Friday classes present a special problem as they meet only once per week.  How best to notify students?  How best to distribute the reading to those students who need to re-take the exam?  Some instructors call or e-mail students, particularly those students who need to re-take.  Students are then able to come to the week 15 class ready to go over the exam and then re-take.  Some instructors also distribute the week 15 reading ahead of time to all students.  If a student is then notified of the need to re-take the exam, the student already has the reading to work on.

Week 15 (May 7-13)

The process is repeated during week 15, the last regular week of classes, for those students who did not pass the exam the first time around, or for those students who missed the first administration.

Week 16 – Final Exam week

“LAST CHANCE” FINAL FOR DAY STUDENTS: Tuesday, May 15, 12 p.m., rooms tba.   This is an opportunity for day students who missed one of the earlier sessions.  Students do not need to receive a reading ahead of time.  A shorter reading appropriate for a two hour exam sitting will be provided at the time of the exam.  Instructors who refer students to this session should be prepared to help with proctoring and grading.

Grading

ENG095 GRADING

1.      Instructors bring all exams to the grading session.  It is recommended that instructors do an initial read first.  Instructors should not mark exams in any way.  Instructors should double-check to make sure the correct section numbers are on the exam.

2.      At the exam session, all exams are placed in a pile.  The exams are shuffled.  

3.      Before the actual grading begins, there will be some discussion of norming.  In the case of the Saturday morning grading session, there will be a group grading discussion of several exams.

4.      Exams are graded “P” (pass) or “NP” (not pass).  Based on norming discussion if an instructor feels completely comfortable that an exam falls into either of the categories, one reading is sufficient.  If however the grader thinks the exam is borderline, the grader should put a question mark on the paper and either hold on to it to discuss with another reader or put it into the question mark pile for additional readings.  Readers should not mark up the exams.  A check-off form should be filled out for each “NP” exam.  Areas that are problematic should be checked off.  Additional comments may be written on the check-off form but these should be written with the knowledge that the instructor will show the comment sheet to the student and will go over the exam using the check-off sheet to help the student know why the exam did not pass.

5.      At the end of the session, the instructor should go through his or her exams to verify that they are all there and have all been graded.  If an instructor feels an exam may have been misread, the instructor may request additional readings at that time.

6.      At the end of the entire process, all exam materials should be returned to the department chair.  Exams will be filed for one year.

ENG111 GRADING

The exam grading process for ENG111 is much the same as ENG095.  However, there is one important difference.  Present practice exempts exams that are “B or better” from the grading session.  This, then, requires that the instructor do an initial culling of exams before attending the grading session. This in turn requires a very clear understanding of what a “B or better” exam is.  The reason for this practice is basically a practical one.  If there were enough time it is clear that it would be better that all exams be brought to the grading session and all exams be graded in the way that the ENG095 exams are graded.  However, the reality is that time is limited and the ENG111 exams are much longer and demand more time.  If this practice is to work it is imperative that all instructors have a clear sense of what “B or better” is.  This can be arrived at in a number of ways.  One is to apply a set of descriptors like the ones below.  The second is to have a norming session in advance of the actual grading session in which sample essays are group graded, which should lead to group consensus on grading standards.  The department could also put together a set of exams that have been determined to be “A,” “B”, etc., which then serve as “range finders.”  For part-time faculty new to the process, it would be a good idea, prior to Saturday morning grading session, to go through the exams, arranging them roughly from best to worst.  Then once the initial practice grading has been completed, it should be clear which exams need to go into the pile.

Options for Students Who Do Not Pass the Exam

Options are limited.  Students may not receive a grade of C or better for the course unless the exam has been passed.  This leaves the following options…

1.      A final grade of D for the course.  “D” is minimally passing.  However, a student may not advance to the next level with a “D.”  A student must re-take the course.

2.      A final grade of F for the course.  The student has failed and needs to repeat the course.

3.      An “IP” grade—i.e., “in progress.”  This is a temporary grade.  In essence the instructor is making a bargain with a student to finish up the course after the semester.  While this might be accomplished in a number of ways, the bottom line is still the same:  the instructor who awards the IP is responsible for giving the final grade as the student is still on the instructor’s class roster.  Instructors should certainly consider the IP option but award this temporary grade only after careful consideration and discussion with the student.  Some instructors give an IP out of compassion; however, the student often remains unclear on what it is that he or she has to do to complete the IP.  Thus the importance of filling out an IP agreement form.  IP agreement forms are available in the dean’s office.  The form requires stipulation of what must be done and establishes a time line for completing it.  A student should sign the form and retain a copy.  In the event a student is not available to sign the form the instructor should mail a copy to the student, explaining the circumstances for giving the IP and the requirements for completing the course.  In recent years the department has experimented with an “IP completion course.”  This is a course that carries no credit and costs the student nothing.  A student must still sign up.  The course is listed in the master schedule as ENG005.  Space is limited.  Students will work with an instructor (and tutors, if available).  After a student has been retested, the ENG005 instructor reports back to the referring instructor so the referring instructor can change the IP to an appropriate final grade.  For more information on this, contact Tim McLaughlin.  Please note:  IP’s revert to F if the grade is not changed by the end of the next semester, unless the IP is formally extended by the original instructor.