Fifteen years ago, Omega University implemented a new procedure that encouraged students to evaluate the teaching effectiveness of all their professors. Since that time, Omega professors have begun to assign higher grades in their classes, and overall student grade averages at Omega have risen by 30 percent. Potential employers, looking at this dramatic rise in grades, believe that grades at Omega are inflated and do not accurately reflect student achievement; as a result, Omega graduates have not been as successful at getting jobs as have graduates from nearby Alpha University. To enable its graduates to secure better jobs, Omega University should terminate student evaluation of professors.
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
Employers have interpreted the rise in grades for Omega University graduates as an indication that professors are awarding higher marks in response to the institution's use of student evaluation. As a result, Omega graduates have more difficulty finding jobs than do the graduates of nearby Alpha University. In response to this unfortunate consequence, the writer posits that Omega University should terminate student evaluation of professors. If there is substantive evidence for this change, it has not been revealed in the passage.
Employers assume that professors have inflated grades to receive favorable evaluations from their students. Employers might benefit from knowing what aspects of the professors' pedagogy are evaluated. It may be that, over the fifteen-year period that student evaluations have existed, professors have responded by improving their instructional techniques and curriculum materials. In consequence, students have found the classes more relevant and accessible and have had greater success than previous students. It is also unclear whether the evaluations of the professors have improved with the increase in grades. If it has not, this argument is invalid.
Another assumption that needs to be examined is that the quality of students has remained steady while grades have risen. Can evidence be uncovered that reveals a change in Omega University’s admissions policy? The school may have instituted more stringent admissions requirements. The cohorts may have achieved higher scores on the SAT or taken Advanced Placement courses in high school. Omega University's increased selectivity could account for a rise in grades. It might be helpful to know if the student evaluation process replaced another type of evaluation. It could be that the professors, themselves, requested the student evaluation to help them critique their own effectiveness.
Finally, we must look at the 30 percent rise in grades. The reader may interpret this to mean that all of Omega University students have raised their GPA’s or their actual numerical averages by 30 percent. Assuming that a student would need at least a 70 percent average to remain in school, a 30 percent increase would mean that every student has a minimum average of 91 percent. That would, indeed, be remarkable and a likely cause for skepticism on the parts of employers. However, if the statistic means that 30 percent of Omega students have increased their grade averages, it may not be a cause for concern. If Omega University has 1,000 students, then roughly 300 of them have raised their grades, a more realistic improvement. Employers should not write off these graduates without understanding the basis of the purported elevation of grades.
Omega University graduates' inability to secure employment may be due, in part, to suspicion about their actual achievement, but other factors may contribute to the dearth of jobs for them. Alpha University may offer majors in courses of study that are more marketable in today's economy.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
also need to argue:
1. as a result, Omega graduates have not been as successful at getting jobs as have graduates from nearby Alpha University.
2. To enable its graduates to secure better jobs, Omega University should terminate student evaluation of professors.
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Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 26 15
No. of Words: 471 350
No. of Characters: 2504 1500
No. of Different Words: 225 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.659 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.316 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.866 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 197 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 160 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 113 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 83 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.115 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 6.047 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.615 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.298 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.485 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.11 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 2, column 165, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'professors'' or 'professor's'?
Suggestion: professors'; professor's
...enefit from knowing what aspects of the professors pedagogy are evaluated. It may be that,...
^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, finally, however, if, look, may, so, then, while, at least, as a result
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 16.0 19.6327345309 81% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 20.0 12.9520958084 154% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 11.1786427146 63% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 13.6137724551 110% => OK
Pronoun: 39.0 28.8173652695 135% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 54.0 55.5748502994 97% => OK
Nominalization: 17.0 16.3942115768 104% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2567.0 2260.96107784 114% => OK
No of words: 471.0 441.139720559 107% => OK
Chars per words: 5.45010615711 5.12650576532 106% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.65859790218 4.56307096286 102% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.98380885686 2.78398813304 107% => OK
Unique words: 236.0 204.123752495 116% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.501061571125 0.468620217663 107% => OK
syllable_count: 814.5 705.55239521 115% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 4.96107784431 181% => OK
Article: 6.0 8.76447105788 68% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 2.70958083832 185% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 4.22255489022 118% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 26.0 19.7664670659 132% => OK
Sentence length: 18.0 22.8473053892 79% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 38.1154428316 57.8364921388 66% => OK
Chars per sentence: 98.7307692308 119.503703932 83% => OK
Words per sentence: 18.1153846154 23.324526521 78% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.15384615385 5.70786347227 55% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 15.0 8.20758483034 183% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 6.88822355289 44% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 8.0 4.67664670659 171% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.297696556622 0.218282227539 136% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0878581730395 0.0743258471296 118% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0714067136253 0.0701772020484 102% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.174841314532 0.128457276422 136% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0442373801996 0.0628817314937 70% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.3 14.3799401198 92% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 44.75 48.3550499002 93% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.03 12.5979740519 111% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.02 8.32208582834 108% => OK
difficult_words: 134.0 98.500998004 136% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 12.3882235529 85% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.2 11.1389221557 83% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 75.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.5 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.