THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 26, 1995 TAG: 9512260036
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
More than half the grades given in Old Dominion University's Darden College of Education are A's - the most generous spread at the university - an ODU study says.
The study found that education students received the most A's: 53 percent of all grades. Students in the College of Business and Public Administration had the roughest time; only 16 percent of their grades were A's.
Future teachers also had the highest average grade-point average - 3.3, or about a B-plus. Students in the sciences, such as biology and chemistry, had the lowest average - 2.3.
The report tracked the distribution of grades and the average grade-point averages of students in ODU's six schools from 1986 to 1991. Acting President Jo Ann Gora said she believes current figures would be similar.
Colleges have been paying closer attention to grades as concern has mounted about grade inflation. Critics have contended that colleges are giving too many A's and B's to bolster enrollment and professors' popularity. As a result, they say, students are graduating poorly prepared and unwilling to work hard.
Yet a federal study issued last month showed that the percentage of A's handed out by the nation's professors had actually declined a bit in the last 20 years.
ODU's overall figures for average GPA - 2.6 - and grade distribution almost exactly mirror the nation's numbers. But ODU's grades for education students are higher than those given to their peers across the country. Nationally, the average GPA for education majors was 2.9, the U.S. Department of Education report said.
Gora said of ODU's education figure: ``That troubles me, because I think it's a bit high.''
Robert A. Lucking, chairman of the educational curriculum and instruction department, says the figures reflect not easy grading, but bright students.
``We have students who are willing to work sufficiently hard to be successful,'' said Lucking. ``Our courses are structured so they understand the necessary steps to be successful and, as those statistics indicate, they are succeeding.''
Lucking said the College of Education's requirements are more stringent than those of some other colleges at ODU, so less-capable students are weeded out. The college requires a 2.5 average, recommendations from two professors and an interview to be eligible for student teaching, he said.
But Gora said ODU research showed that students majoring in education tended to have lower high school averages than most other students. And even with the 2.5 requirement for entry, ``3.3 is higher than I would expect. It should be closer to 3.0.''
Gora said deans were given the study and told to examine the figures. But no specific recommendations were made.
Comparable figures were not available at Norfolk State University.
Gora said the main finding of the study was that ODU was not getting any easier on grading.
``GPAs have been relatively constant over the last six years, and that is a very positive statement,'' Gora said. ``I don't think there is grade inflation, much to the surprise of a lot of people.''
For instance, the percentage of A's in undergraduate courses overall rose only slightly, from 23.8 percent in 1986 to 25.4 percent in 1991. And the share of B's went down, from 31.3 percent to 30.4 percent.
The average GPA throughout the university virtually held steady, going from 2.61 in 1986 to 2.63 in 1991.
Gora said she wasn't surprised that science majors had the lowest averages. ``I think that math and science courses in college are very demanding, and students are not always adequately prepared for the challenge of university courses,'' she said.
Paul J. Champagne, chairman of the management and marketing department, offered a variety of explanations for the dearth of A's for business students.
Many students in his classes are seniors ``who really aren't worried about grades at that point,'' Champagne said. ``If a student already has a job, the grade is frequently not the biggest consideration.''
And many business students work part-time, he said. ``I just know an awful lot of students are working 20 to 30 hours a week and are still trying to take 12 hours of classes. There's not really much time there, so something has to give.'' MEMO:
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS AND GPAS AT ODU AND ACROSS THE NATION
Average
A B C D F Other GPA
ODU Arts and 22.7% 34.1% 23.4% 6.7% 3.8% 9.3% 2.64
Letters
Business 16.0% 31.2% 26.2% 9.2% 4.5% 12.9% 2.49
Education 52.6% 26.2% 7.5% 1.3% 2.2% 10.2% 3.28
Engineering 30.2% 34.4% 19.3% 5.9% 3.1% 7.1% 2.80
Health Sciences 38.5% 40.2% 13.9% 2.1% 1.2% 4.1% 3.11
Sciences 17.1% 27.6% 26.0% 11.1% 7.5% 10.7% 2.32
UNIVERSITY AVG 25.4% 30.4% 21.0% 7.0% 4.5% 11.7% 2.63
NATIONAL AVERAGE 25.3% 32.5% 22.9% 6.1% 3.8% 9.4% 2.66
Source: ODU, U.S. Department of Education
Note: ODU numbers are from 1991, the last year data were compiled;
U.S. figures are from 1993.
KEYWORDS: OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY by CNB