Grade inflation—and deflation—in higher ed

This morning’s Inside Higher Ed (Grade Inflation Seen Rising) reports that Stuart Rojstaczer, a retired Duke University professor who is responsible for GradeInflation.com, has released another analysis that suggests that grade inflation continues in higher ed.

According to Rojstaczer, the average GPA at private colleges is now up to 3.3 (a B+). At public colleges and universities, it is now 3.01 (a B). Big public universities in the South and some liberal arts colleges have experienced the most inflation in recent years.

Says IHE,

Rojstaczer's findings will probably resonate with professors, many of whom regularly bemoan grade inflation and say that students are conditioned to expect good grades just for showing up, and that professors who refuse to go along get punished with harsh course evaluations. Many professors who are off the tenure track or who are pre-tenure report great fear of being punished by students (and then not rehired) if they gain a reputation for tough grading, and studies have found correlations between being an easy grader and earning good ratings at RateMyProfessors.com. [My emphasis.]

Rogstaczer notes that, at Brown University last year, most undergrade grades were A’s.

The issue matters, Rojstaczer said, because "the alternative is a student body that frequently misses class, never prepares in advance, studies about 11 hours a week if they are 'full time' students, and drinks itself into a constant stupor out of boredom. That's not an acceptable alternative anywhere." [My emphasis.]

Some experts (Rojstaczer is not an expert, though he has gathered an impressive amount of data) think that Rojstaczer is making too much of this problem. Clifford Adelman (of the Institute for Higher Education Policy) for one remarks, “‘If grade inflation is so rampant, how come at least a third of kids who start in four-year colleges don't graduate?’"

According to Rojstaczer, community colleges seem to be bucking the trend:

As to community colleges, [Kay McClenney, director of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement] said that her center's focus groups and surveys have found that students and professors at two-year institutions are on the same page on standards: both groups worry about and would oppose anything that suggests that "expectations of students may not be high enough." And she said that close student-faculty interaction at community colleges encourages frank evaluations. "Teaching and learning is what community college faculty do."

Guess so. Still, I think we need to buck a bit harder.

Postcard from the Recession

The little guy is off to school at 7:55 AM and had just enough time to pose with his latest first grade civics project - a "patriotic" poster. He had to choose three symbols (you can see them here) and then compose a paragraph that identified and explained each one. He is particularly proud of his Statue of Liberty, which, he reminded his parents was a gift from the French.

Tonight the entire family will attend the OUSD board meeting where they assume the board will vote to close his elementary school.

Sigh.

The ripple affect in this canyon community will be sad and scary.

The Los Angeles Times has been running a series of op-ed essays under the banner "Postcards from the Recession." Sunday, Susan Straight wrote from Riverside, suggesting that the people out there are our canaries in a coal mine. Yesterday Gustavo Arellano reported from Anaheim. Today Lisa See explores the effects on the Westside (L.A. that is). Rebel Girl has been using the essays in the classroom where, she notes, the attention of the students is unusually rapt.

Yeah, but we'll be dead by then

The OC Register (Global warming could displace 110,000 on OC coast, report says) reports that

Sea level rise driven by global warming could flood parts of the California coast in coming decades, with Orange County’s among the most vulnerable in the state, a new state-commissioned report says.

The report by an independent Oakland research group, the Pacific Institute, says nearly half a million people statewide — and 110,000 in Orange County — could be at risk by the year 2100 under some climate change scenarios….
…
The $335,000 study, requested by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s climate action team and paid for by Caltrans, the state Energy Commission and the Ocean Protection Council, is based on scientific estimates from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the U.S. Geological Survey on coastal effects from rising sea levels. Those, in turn, were based on work by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an international team of climate scientists….

I’ve cropped one of the report’s maps to show only Southern California. (See above.)

Looks like Newport Beach will be especially hard hit. That's Republican territory, isn't it? They'll just say the report is bullshit.

My recommendation: they should move OC GOP headquarters and the Newport Beach PD down there near the water—you know, where they shot the Minnow leaving for that fateful "three-hour tour" on Gilligan's Island.

Top-down stinkery

Scenes from "senior day" event today at Irvine Valley College.

YESTERDAY, I wrote about a certain dean at Irvine Valley College who promotes Argosy University in particular. That's odd. What's odder is that she works for that institution as an instructor. Tsk, tsk.

But we shouldn’t be surprised. I'm reminded that Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur has on occasion invited the Argosy crowd to make presentations regarding their programs during district leadership council meetings. No other universities have been invited.

Mathur works for Argosy. According to his district bio, “Dr. Mathur serves as an Advisory Board Member for the School of Education at Argosy University where he also teaches courses in educational leadership to doctoral students.”

By promoting Argosy, doesn’t Mathur have a conflict of interest? If administrators (who attend leadership council meetings) choose to pursue a degree at Argosy, Mathur stands to gain, for he teaches in the graduate program there (in the School of Education).

The rise of for-profit organizations such as Argosy is, of course, a trend in higher education, one that has caused much grumbling and consternation among educators who believe in honest education, without short-cuts, half-assery, and all manner of fly-by-nightery.

I've never seen so many people at IVC!

A year ago, I wrote about Argosy and the embarrassing deeds of some of its personnel. Here’s an abbreviated and edited version of that post:

As you know, the Chancellor is proud of his association with Argosy University.

I decided to do a little research on that organization. The for-profit university has 18 locations in 12 states. It seems to specialize in teaching Psychology, Business, and Education.

According to Wikipedia, one or two years ago, one of Argosy’s faculty and its Director of Training (at its psychology campus in Chicago) screwed up bigtime. The incident was fully reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. (See Chicago Sun-Times.)

Psychologist Bindu Ganga, who received her doctorate from Argosy, was accused of plagiarism by one of her students! According to the student, Ganga had quoted verbatim from Charles Ford's Lies! Lies!! Lies!!!—without attribution—in her Psych dissertation!


I guess that means that Ganga passed around her dissertation to students. Well, whatever.

Says Wiki, “Initially, the school found ‘no merit’ in the accusations, and scolded the accuser, noting her accusation in her academic record.”

My, my, my. That doesn’t sound good. What kind of organization would do that?

What happened next was very odd. Eventually, Argosy “recanted” and fired Professor Ganga. I guess they finally checked. Argosy also took back her doctorate.

According to Wiki, such actions are unprecedented in academia. Not so sure about that.

So far, I’m not too scandalized. But it gets worse. According to Wiki, “One year later, Argosy reinstated Ganga's Doctoral degree, but required the plagiarist to do a completely original Doctoral thesis.”

Boy, they sure do have high standards at Argosy.

No doubt that's why they hired our Raghu!

Darryl Cox gave away fabulous non-cash prizes!

Mathur's friends among us

Gosh, on Saturday, members of the Irvine Valley College community received a curious email from Dean Elizabeth Cipres (Counseling and Library Services). She wrote:

Dear Faculty: I have attached a Lunch and Learn invitation from Argosy University that will be held in our Career & Transfer Center … on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. Also if you are considering a doctorate program, I have attached the recently updated doctoral matrix for your review.

Liz Cipres

I opened the "matrix" and found what amounted to an advertisement for Doctoral Programs—and maybe for programs at Argosy University in particular. Cipres is among the adjunct faculty of that university (it has a campus here in Orange County), as is Chancellor Raghu Mathur, with whom Dean Cipres seems to enjoy a close association. The matrix says:Would getting a doctorate help boost your career? Are you considering taking “the big step”? Here is a list of some universities that offer doctoral programs that 1) offer courses at night and on weekends and 2) indicate they encourage working community college administrators to apply for admission….

The list is obviously designed to make Argosy look good compared to other universities. My word! At Argosy U, you can get an Ed. D. in Community College Executive Leadership in three years for only $780 per credit hour! Beat that! [UPDATE: a friend insists--and I have no reason to doubt her--that this matrix is not from Argosy, nor is it designed to make Argosy look good. It is a comparison provided by ACCA.] Few colleges, it seems, can beat that. Among the institutions mentioned in the comparison, of course, are various public institutions. They look mighty expensive and demanding in comparison.

But of course they offer real courses. But wait a minute! I think you’d have to say that, with her email, Dean Cipres was promoting Argosy University in particular. I mean, does she put out such emails for other universities? Does she announce (to the entire faculty) or arrange “Lunch and Learn” events for USC or Berkeley or Pepperdine? If so, I sure haven't noticed. And she's an employee of Argosy, right?

I did a brief search, and I encountered an old class schedule for Argosy. There, Cipres is listed as the instructor of one of the courses. I found her syllabus, which stated that “She has been an adjunct professor at Argosy University since July, 2005.” Raghu P. Mathur is also listed as the instructor—for two courses: “Community College Leadership” and “Managing Change 3.” Naturally, I couldn’t help myself. I read the syllabus for one of Mathur’s courses. It listed various “performance objectives,” including

• Recognize the need for delegating authority and responsibility in accomplishing organizational goals.
• Recognize the effect of behavior and decisions on people and groups inside and outside of the school organization.
• Demonstrate public relation skills to manage the image of the school via impressions created by students and staff. (My emphasis. See syllabus.)

Ha!

Well, I may as well go the whole hog. I noticed that Dean Cipres teaches “Organizational Communication Systems…” So I guess she must be pretty good at communication, eh? I looked at the course's syllabus. Here’s one of the assignments she lists there:

Assignment 2: Internet Job Search Visit one of the numerous job-search sites on the Internet if you are interested in higher education I recommend the community college registry at www.cccregistry.org/jobs/index.aspx then select a position description and develop five interview questions for that position.

Hmmm. But here’s my issue. Our board has seen fit to embrace a policy on “electronic communication”—including email. It is Board Policy 4000.2. It says:

It is the policy of this District to restrict access to and use of the electronic/digital information network to students and employees for educational purposes by students and employees and work-related purposes by employees. Use of the District’s electronic/digital information network [including “electronic mail”] for other purposes amounting to more than incidental personal use or for unlawful purposes is not authorized and can constitute grounds for revocation of user privileges, removal of offending material, and potential disciplinary action. [My emphasis.]

Gosh, Raghu's pals sure do get away with stuff, don't they?

IN THE NEWS: • Capistrano schools chief: 'Acrimony' unbearable Former Capistrano Unified School District Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter lashes out at Capo trustees. The latter crew was supported by conservative "back to basics" group Education Alliance (with whom some of our trustees are associated). • Capistrano Unified trustees fire superintendent (Tuesday morning) • Publisher to Register employees: let them eat Hawaiian bread Register publisher tells reporters to work much harder for no more money

Cretin cop culture in tony Newport Beach

Have you been following that curious discrimination trial in Newport Beach? 

Neil Harvey, a 27-year veteran of the Newport Beach Police Department, alleges that he has been harassed and denied promotions because he is perceived as gay. He says he isn’t gay, but he’s got that reputation, and so he’s treated badly, he says.

Natch.

I’ve been following the trial, and it sounds like Harvey’s got a strong case.

In today’s OC Reg article about the trial (Documents: Ex-chief had religious test for Newport police), we learn that things are going from bad to worse for the reputation of the NBPD:

Sworn depositions by city police officers … depict an agency plagued over the years by homophobia, favoritism and even religious standards for employees hoping to ascend the ranks.
…
All that comes amid internal upheaval; rank-and-file officers last spring described "serious morale problems" that risked driving away seasoned personnel, although other officers called the charge baseless. In December, police management called for an investigation into the promotional process, alleging it is "not based on the actual merit of the candidates."

The worst revelations concern former Chief Bob McDonell, who left in 2007:

According to several accounts, McDonell had a religious litmus test requiring those looking to climb the department's ladder to share his "Christian values." ¶ One saying in the department suggested that "you've got to carry a Bible around or he's got to see you carrying a Bible around to get promoted," Sgt. John Hougan said in a deposition.

Apparently, under McDonell’s regime, cops in the department understood that only stable married men were promoted:

"I think there were like seven guys who got married or got engaged and all of a sudden shot to the top of the list," [Officer Kenra] Duerst said during testimony at Harvey's trial this week.

Sheesh. It turns out that McDonell was brought in in 1993 to

clean up a department tarnished by the ousting of Chief Arb Campbell and Capt. Tony Villa, who faced sexual harassment complaints from 10 female employees, including one who accused them of raping her at a party.

Natch.

See also R. Scott Moxley's comment

What is conservatism?

Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.

—John Stuart Mill

Yesterday, the Contra Costa Times (Right wing to get its time at Berkeley) reported that

An anonymous donor has given $777,000 to [UC Berkeley] to establish a Center for the Comparative Study of Right-wing Movements. Researchers will study the right wing in other countries and its relationship to U.S. movements.

The CCT reporter notes that conservative movements don’t get much attention among scholars. Larry Rosenthal, a sociologist who will head the new program, notes that UC Berkeley will be studying the right wing when, if anything, such studies will be in retreat.

—And when the Republican Party is asking itself what it stands for.

Sounds good to me. Contrary to John Stuart Mill, who called conservatives the “stupid party” (strictly speaking, he said that about the Tories), I think that conservatism is rich in ideas that are worthy of study. Possibly, however, the Berkeley program will be studying movements—especially those outside the U.S.—and not so much ideas or philosophies.

Well, we’ll see, I guess.

Speaking of philosophies and stupid parties, have you been following the “war” between beltway Ditto Heads and conservative writer David Frum? On Monday, Frum wrote that

… [Rush Limbaugh, the self-appointed] leader of the Republicans? A man who is aggressive and bombastic, cutting and sarcastic, who dismisses the concerned citizens in network news focus groups as “losers.” With his private plane and his cigars, his history of drug dependency and his personal bulk, not to mention his tangled marital history, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence—exactly the image that Barack Obama most wants to affix to our philosophy and our party. And we’re cooperating! Those images of crowds of CPACers cheering Rush’s every rancorous word—we’ll be seeing them rebroadcast for a long time.
…
But do the rest of us understand what we are doing to ourselves by accepting this leadership? … [H]e cannot be allowed to be the public face of the enterprise—and we have to find ways of assuring the public that he is just one Republican voice among many, and very far from the most important.

Frum has taken quite a pounding from his "conservative" colleagues ever since. Unlike others who've challenged Rush and reaped the ditto-wind, Frum hasn't run to Rush to offer a heartfelt apology.

More recently (The Limbaugh schism), Frum explained that “What we are arguing about is the kind of party the GOP will be.” Frum thinks that Republicans seem intent on defining themselves out of government:

We are gradually shrinking from our former ambition—to govern—and taking our pleasure instead in alienation and complaint. Those journalists who cover the conservative world are surprised by how relieved and happy conservatives seem to be about having lost the 2008 election. No more irritating compromises, no more boring policy debates! We can recline into the pure assertion of conservative dogma, a job nobody does better than Rush Limbaugh himself. As Limbaugh told the CPAC crowd: We need no new policy ideas. Conservatism, he said, cannot be reshaped or reformed, and those who suggest otherwise must be “stamped out.” And who knows? That view may prevail among Republicans for some long time to come. But if it does, watch out. Just as the American left retreated from politics into the universities in the 1980s, so—if Rush has his way—will the American right retreat from politics into the airwaves in the 2000s.

These are interesting times.

See also

• Conservatives on the Titanic: blaming right-wing “carny barkers”
• Ten Conservative Principles

Republicans display cute trained monkey: