Abstract
This paper focuses on the issue of assessments, i.e. requirements and grading, in an American university. It addresses the following questions: What are the main features of assessments in the English department at the University of Texas at Austin (UTA)? Are there any factors that put pressure on professors and force them to raise grades? Methodologically, we first analyzed the online descriptions of all the English courses offered during the 2019 Spring semester. This quantitative analysis highlights the main features of assessments in the context of this university and makes it possible to confront them with the issues of reliability and fairness (McMillan 1999). Then, we conducted a qualitative analysis of six interviews of professors who explained how they evaluate and grade their students. This second type of data analysis allows us to discuss the issue of validity (Cronbach & Meehl 1955; McMillan 1999), as well as that of fair grading. To what extent do the interviewees feel forced to raise grades and why? Is the firearm issue in Texas a relevant factor? Finally, a case study focuses on an upper-division course of English Romantic Poetry given by the present researcher to a class of 26 undergraduate students (of all levels: freshmen and seniors) majoring in English or other subjects, which investigates the possibility of formatting a valid course that generates higher grades.
Highlights
Preliminary remarks on assessment ContextSource: https://utdirect.utexas.edu/apps/campus/buildings/nlogon/maps/UTM/CAL/Source: https://www.austinchronicle.comSource: https://www.facebook.com/TacosNotTobacco/10 If any problem occurs, such as a robbery at a near-by shop, one immediately gets a message on one’s smartphone calling for witnesses; about one hour later, another message comes as a relief: a suspect has been arrested
University of Texas at Austin (UTA)’s President and Board were firmly against this decision, but they had to comply because UTA depended on state subsidies
34 Peer reviews and a revision policy are the norms for nearly the majority of the courses, at 49%, it is not necessarily mentioned in the grading policy but often appears in the course description
Summary
10 If any problem occurs, such as a robbery at a near-by shop, one immediately gets a message on one’s smartphone calling for witnesses; about one hour later, another message comes as a relief: a suspect has been arrested. “Thank you to everybody for your help”, says the police officer — the campus has its own police station. For a French person like me, this fact alone was quite surprising since police are usually not welcome on French campuses. In Austin, everyone still had the 1966 Tower shooting in mind in which 14 people were killed. In June 2015, after another shooting at a university in Oregon, the Texas Legislature passed a law authorizing ‘concealed carry’ on campus, i.e. people were allowed to carry concealed guns. UTA’s President and Board were firmly against this decision, but they had to comply because UTA depended on state subsidies
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
