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Revised Final Exam/Evaluation Policy

Assessment of Initial Implementation

Fall 2007

On July 10, 2007 the TCNJ Board of Trustees approved a revised Final Exam/Evaluation Policy as recommended by CAP (http://www.tcnj.edu/~academic/policy/finalevaluations.htm). The results of this study, in the first semester after implementation of the revised policy, indicate that overall, at the College as a whole, the policy has been implemented as adopted. The one exception may be that there were in-class or take-home exams or evaluations that had the character of a final evaluation, or that counted for more than 15% toward the final grade, during the final week of classes – in some cases even in courses where there was also a final comprehensive, integrative evaluation during (or due) finals week.

• Introduction

• Results - Overall for TCNJ

• Responses by Subject Area

  • Excel file with responses by subject area

  • Excel file with long answer comments

• Appendix 1 - Survey Instrument

• Appendix 2 - Email Invitations

This report is also availabe as a pdf document. Please click here for the complete report.

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Introduction

The assistance of the TCNJ student body was sought as we begin to implement this policy to help in gauging our progress. The students were asked to complete four brief “yes/no” questions via a simple on-line survey, created in Form Genie (Appendix 1), for each course in which they were enrolled for credit during the Fall 2007 semester. They were asked to identify only the course prefix (or subject area) of the course, and not the specific course or section.

All TCNJ students were initially emailed from the Academic Affairs email account on Monday, December 12, 2007. A reminder was sent on Tuesday, December 18, 2007. Text of the emails is attached as Appendix 2. The survey was closed to further responses at 9:00 am on Thursday, December 20. A total of 852 responses were received. Since most students were responding for multiple courses, data were organized by course subject area. The final data set consisted of responses for 3,195 courses, after removing those for graduate-level courses, for those where no course prefix/id was provided, and for those where no answers were submitted.

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Results

Question 1: There was a final comprehensive, integrative evaluation in this course.

 

Following policy, 2858 responses, or 89.5%, indicated that there was a final, comprehensive, integrative evaluation in their course. The response to this question should not be 100%, as there are some courses where a final, comprehensive, integrative evaluation is not pedagogically sound, and others (such as internships and independent research) where the final, comprehensive, integrative experience is a presentation during the celebration of student achievement.

There was a final comprehensive, integrative evaluation in this course

	Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
No	335	10.49	10.5
Yes	2858	89.45	89.5
Missing	2	0.06
Total	3195	100.0	100.0

 

Question 2: The grade on the final counted for at least 15%, but not more than 50%, of the final grade.

 

Once again indicating that the policy is being closely followed, in cases where a there was a final, 2806 responses, or 98.3%, indicated that the grade on that final counted for at least 15%, but not more than 50% of the final grade.

The grade on the final counted for at least 15%, but not more than 50%, of the final grade.

	Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
No	48	1.5	1.7
Yes	2806	87.8	98.3
No Final	331	10.4
Missing	10	0.3
Total	3195	100.0	100.0

 

Question 3: The final evaluation was held during the regularly scheduled exam period for the course or it was due during exam week.

 

Perhaps indicating that this portion of the policy was not followed as carefully, in cases where there was a final, 2552 responses, or 89.3%, indicated that the final evaluation was held during the regularly scheduled exam period for the course, or it was due during exam week. Three hundred seven, or 10.7% responded that the final was not held (or due) as scheduled during exam week.

The final evaluation was held during the regularly scheduled exam period for the course or it was due during exam week.

	Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
No	307	9.6	10.7
Yes	2552	79.9	89.3
No Final	332	10.4
Missing	4	0.1
Total	3195	100.0	100.0

 

Question 4: During the last week of class there was an in-class or take-home exam or evaluation that had the character of a final evaluation or that counted for more than 15% toward the final grade.

 

Somewhat against the guidelines set forth in the policy, only 1818, or 64% of respondents who indicated there was a final indicated that there was NOT an in-class or take-home exam or evaluation that had the character of a final evaluation or that counted for more than 15% toward the final grade during the last week of class. 1028 responses, or 36%, therefore, had an experience that had the character of a final evaluation during the last week of classes.

During the last week of class there was an in-class or take-home exam or evaluation that had the character of a final evaluation or that counted for more than 15% toward the final grade

	Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
No	1818	56.9	63.9
Yes	1028	32.2	36.1
No Final	332	10.4
Missing	17	0.5
Total	3195	100.0	100.0

 

To examine this possibility more closely, frequencies were determined for the answer to question 4, dependent upon the answer to question 3, and are shown in the table below. 813 responses, or 25.6%, had a final evaluation held during or due during exam week and also had an in-class or take-home exam or evaluation that had the character of a final evaluation or that counted for more than 15% toward the final grade during the last week of class.

Summary Table

		Q3. The final evaluation was held during the regularly scheduled exam period for the course or it was due during exam week.				Row Total
		No		Yes
		Q4. During the last week of class there was an in-class or take-home exam or evaluation that had the character of a final evaluation or that counted for more than 15% toward the final grade.
		No	Yes	No	Yes
Q1. There was a final comprehensive, integrative evaluation in this course.	No	113	62	105	52	332
	Yes	88	214	1728	813	2843
Column Total		201	276	1833	865	3175

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Responses by Subject Area

The accompanying excel file, “F07_Subject_Area_Results” includes the data for each individual subject area (or course prefix). The first tab in along the bottom of the file (labeled “Explanation”) describes the table provided for each subject area (similar to the table above) in detail. Subsequent tabs are for the courses prefixes associated within each School, with a final tab for “Other” which contains courses like FSP and WRI.

Link to excel file with responses by subject area

The second excel file, “F07_Long_Comments” includes comments, categorized into at least one (and up to three) of eight categories:

• Allow Early –want instructors to have flexibility in scheduling final during the last week of classes
• Assignment and Final – had an assignment with the character of a final experience and a final during the last week, reading days and final exam period
• Clarification – clarifying something about their responses (usually that a final was not appropriate for a particular courses)
• Final Issue – an issue with a particular final experience
• In Reading Days – final was held during reading days
• On Class Day – final was held during last week of classes
• Policy Issue – a comment (good or bad) about the policy in general
• Scheduling Issue – a comment (good or bad) about scheduling of finals
  

Indications to particular courses, courses sections, instructors and students have been removed. The one to five subject areas in which students were enrolled are listed before each comment.

Link to excel file with long comments

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