Re: den.list-d Digest V99 #180

[lifemap@ix.netcom.com]

From: Ed Baker, lifemap@ix.netcom.com
Subject: Wayne Mack's comments on Grading Alternatives

Wayne Mack wrote that "perhaps we should only test 10% of the class."

Not such a bad idea. This could be used to determine the performance of any system (class, 
school, sachool district, etc., as a whole. However, it would not provide the kind of feedback 
that Dr. Deming, as teacher, needed in order to help his students. The "system sampling" method 
would not be able to identify specific (special cause) teacher-student interactions, nor give 
common cause feedback to the teacher. One would have to read the exam of each student. 

The second point is that a sampling plan would require a standardized, multiple choice test, 
which presumed correct and incorrect (so keyed by the "experts") responses. Dr. Deming was more 
interested in the student's reasoning, i.e., why one gave a certain answer rather than the 
answer per se. So, if essay exams were given, it would be contradictory, if not irrational, to 
score such exams.

So, we are back to the purpose of education. Is it to fill the student's head with information 
or teach the student how to think and how to get along with other human beings.

Ed Baker
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