Surprise, Surprise: Correlation Between Exam Grades and Intelligent Engagement

I have now received back the number key that allows me to figure out which grades I gave to which students.  There is something nicely affirming about this, as I look at Class #1, which had 41 grade exams.  I only wish that I had made a prediction beforehand, based on constructive class engagement, really to test this, but it seems to me there is pretty good correlation between that and the final grade on the exam.  Of the eleven grades of A and A-, I would say I was not surprised by any of them, and certainly not by at least nine of them.  There were three I would have predicted to have gotten an A who did significantly below that (i.e. B or below).

And it seems like there was a significant correlation between disengagement, unpreparedness in class, and getting a C.  Again, there were a couple surprises on the negative side, but not many.

Based on a quick scan of the grades and the people, it looks to me like the same holds for Class #2.

Both of these classes were upper level.  When I taught first semester Contracts at Wake Forest last year, it seemed a lot more random.

Note:  I did not use the dartboard after all.

[Jeff Lipshaw]