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Grading Policies: A Qualitative Analysis

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Motivation: It is widely documented that women and minorities are underrepresented in certain science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Potential reasons include overt discrimination, a lack of mentors, and teaching practices. Improving STEM opportunities for women and minorities is vital because if they are misallocated away from STEM, society loses valuable and diverse contributions, while they end up in suboptimal careers. I propose to study how grading policies in STEM classes discourage women and minorities from further study and identify potential solutions. STEM classes tend to have difficult grading standards, and low grades in introductory courses are especially likely to discourage women and minorities from further …show more content…

I will restrict each regression sample to the set of students in an introductory course that is a prerequisite for major $i$, who had the same ``adjusted grade,'' but whose actual grades fell immediately above or below a given grade threshold $j$. The first stage will regress a dummy variable indicating whether the student graduated with a major in field $i$ on a dummy for having an actual grade above the subgroup threshold $j$ (e.g., receiving a B- versus a C+ among the set of students with an ``adjusted grade'' of C+) and generate fitted values. The second stage will regress future earnings or alternative measures of economic outcomes from SSA administrative data on the fitted dummies for majoring in $i$. This parameter will capture the causal earnings premium for a particular major for students at a certain grade threshold relative to other students at the same threshold who selected into other majors. I will estimate this model separately for as many grade thresholds, majors, and demographic groups as my data allow in order to account for multiple dimensions of

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In “Net (Race) Neutral: An Essay on How GPA + (reweighted) SAT - Race = Diversity,” Christine Goodman illustrates the opposing viewpoints in regards to the racial discriminatory efforts by the college institutions to help diversify the incoming freshman class. With this, Goodman provides statistics and opinions of experts on the matter, which includes comparison of such discriminatory acts against other institutions. To begin, she brings up an enlightening, yet controversial court case decision: Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (2013). This court case demonstrates significance to this topic because it counteracts a previous court case, Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), which, “upheld diversity as a compelling interest that would justify narrowly

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How exciting would the world be if everyone was either a scientist or mathematician? What would the world be like? Of course there will be a bountiful supply of scientific breakthroughs thank we can bank on, but what how will all of the other aspects of the world fare? As of currently, all across the country there has been a jolt of urgency for the incorporation of a more STEM based education in schools. A more “STEM” based education like the type described in We Can’t All Be Math Nerds and Science Geeks by Fareed Zakaria narrows student’s once broad-based learning foundation and directs it into a more specific line of learning, which is the reasoning behind Zakaria’s disapproval of the movement.

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We have seen in the past four decades race-based affirmative action programs that have arisen and fitfully developed through judicial challenges. As in most case, the best of intentions do not always lead to positive outcomes. Nothing could be more apt in describing the perilous position we have bestowed upon millions of minority students who have been admitted to higher learning institutions under the auspices of diversity. As illustrated by the standardized test and GPA numbers in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the students admitted to the medical school of UC-Davis under their affirmative action policy were extraordinarily less qualified when compared to the student body as a whole. This not only unfairly displaced white and Asian students who would have otherwise been admitted to those spot on merit but also places those underperforming students in an environment in which they are destined to fail.

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In Fareed Zakaria’s we can’t all be math nerds & science geeks he effectively persuades the readers that school curricula should push beyond STEM education by establishing credibility, using facts, and connecting with the audience. Zakaria establishes his credibility by quoting several notable innovators and using personal experience. Throughout his article, Zakaria

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I personally relate to this post as I am a minority, being both African American and a female, as well as a science major. Although Hrabowski emphasized the ways professors and those higher up in the education system can shape college successes, I know that it requires equal effort from us students as well. After all, my education and success lies within my

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In America, students are taught about the struggles that racial minorities and women have, and still, face in the country. Countless textbook chapters across the country are dedicated to the moments surrounding these minorities, but less is said about the LGBTQIA+ rights movement that is still in it’s prime and heavily underway. For this reason, Manil Suri’s Op-Ed piece titled, “Why Is Science So Straight?”, about LGBTQIA+ discrimination within the math and science departments, is an interesting representation of issues that have become increasingly present in America today. Suri start’s by telling a story, “I came out as gay to a colleague in the engineering department. ‘I didn’t realize you were so unconventional.’”

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More theories propose, there are institutional and social class barriers that affect minorities. Ogbu responds that these theories do not account for the discrepancies that other minority students do better than

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courses in college that have opened up my mind to the issue. The more information I learn about this issue, the more surprised I am that our society still exhibits bias, because as much as the United States preaches about equality, it appears as if society has segregation in minor ways. Although the debate between whether there are biased questions on the SATs or not seems to favor that there aren’t by popular opinions, there is still biased behavior occurring in school systems that prevent certain groups of students from getting the proper resources needed. Because I would like to work in an low-income area, which most likely would contain minorities, as a teacher I would make the effort to help those students get the sufficient help needed. This motivates me to become a part of the education field, because caring teachers are much needed in area like this.

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Retention issues are an increasing concern to many institutions nationwide, most especially retention of minority students (Tinto 1987, Newman et al., 1998, Cole 2008, Veenstra 2009, Pidcock et al., 2008) and students in STEM disciplines (Tsui 2007, Cole 2008, Crisp 2009, Wilson et al., 2012). Bean (1986) concluded that institutional reasons for concern about retention rates are not simply financial, but relate also to the (1) possible attrition of college faculty because of feelings of demoralization when students withdraw or chose to transfer to another school or program, and (2) lack of demonstration of good faith that colleges and universities face when not fully ensuring success of their students. Mitigation of these issues has been a

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Women often receive many signals form a young age that indirectly discourage them from entering STEM fields. Instead, we are told we should be nurses or teachers. For many women, the reasoning behind this is because we lack role models that are a part of the STEM community. Representation matters and the saying holds true that “if she can’t see it, she can’t be it”. In addition, the negative perception and stereotypes of STEM women being “geeky” and unattractive” have an impact.

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Holding back students shouldn 't be allowed. You want your child to succeed, but it’s hard to see them take a step backward and not going forward with their academics. Having a child who is having a hard time in school can be hard, but the thought of being held back or having them repeat a grade is defeating. Leaving kids behind can cause bullying and lead to depression. A lot of things could create grade repeating but more can stop it.

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In the traditional American society, the education systems were highly affected by gender roles. Based on gender roles, females were expected to pursue studies that were more inclined on literature and theory (Wayne, 2007). Whereas, boys were expected to partake studies that were more inclined on sciences, and mathematics. Overtime, this pattern has been subverted. In the prevalent American society, female students are free to pursue studies that are more inclined on sciences and mathematics.

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