Taxonomy of Grading Practices in the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón - 1995-96 to 2015-16

Oct 15, 2026

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Faculty members and their corresponding academic fields at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón are classified by their grading practices across time. Using impacts on the intercepts of equations predicting GPA and withdrawal proportions across 39,337 courses spanning 41 consecutive terms, faculty and fields are ranked from the easiest to the most difficult. Results indicate difficult fields are mainly taught by the toughest graders and attended by academically able students, while easy fields align with lenient graders and less academically able students. Maximum-likelihood models show the probability of behaving as a high-grader or low-grader is strongly tied to the faculty member’s field cluster and to student ability heterogeneity, implying a mutual signaling and shopping-around process that can shift norms and standards.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages36

Reading Time1 h 31 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

| education policy analysis archives
A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal | | | --- | --- | | Arizona State University | | | Volume 29 Number 57 May 3 , 2021 ISSN 1068-2341 | | Taxonomy of Grading Practices in the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón, 1995-96 to 2015-16 In loving memory of my son, Horacio Matos-De Jesús (March 12, 1983 – December 20, 2009), who passed too early and whom I sorrowfully miss, each second of each day. Horacio Matos-Díaz University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón Puerto Rico Citation: Matos-Díaz, H. (2021). Taxonomy of grading practices in the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón, 1995-96 to 2015-16 . Education Policy Analysis Archives, 29(57) . [https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.29.5845](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.29.5845) Abstract: Faculty members and their corresponding academic fields at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón are classified with regard to grading practices over time. Based on the effects on the intercept of the equations that predict the GPA and the proportion of student withdrawals observed in each of the 39,337 courses offered during 41 consecutive terms, faculty members and academic fields are scaled from the easiest to the most difficult. Evidence points to the conclusion that the courses of the most difficult academic fields are offered primarily by the hardest grading faculty members and attended by the most academically able students, while the courses of the easiest academic fields are offered primarily by the easiest grading faculty members and attended by less academically able students. The conclusion of such self-sorting processes is reinforced by evidence from maximum likelihood models demonstrating that the probability that a randomly selected faculty member behaves like a highgrader or a low-grader is highly and significantly related to the cluster of academic fields to which the faculty member belongs. Such a probability is also strongly and significantly influenced by the heterogeneity of student academic ability distribution. Hence, faculty members are very responsive to signals sent by their students’ characteristics. This empirical result deserves further detailed analysis given that it implies a scenario in which faculty members and students engage in a shopping-around process in which both parties free-ride from each other, altering institutional norms and academic standards. Keywords: grading taxonomy; multinomial logistic models; easy and tough grading; Puerto Rico Taxonomía de las prácticas de evaluación en la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Bayamón, 1995-96 al 2015-16 Resumen: Los profesores de la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Bayamón y sus correspondientes programas académicos son clasificados en términos de sus prácticas deevaluación a través del tiempo. A base de su efecto sobre el intercepto de las ecuaciones que predicen el GPA y la proporción de bajas observadas en cada uno de los 39,337 cursos ofrecidos durante 41 semestres consecutivos, se les ordena desde los más fáciles hasta los másdifíciles. La evidencia apunta a la conclusión de que los cursos de los programas académicosmás difíciles son ofrecidos principalmente por los profesores más exigentes, y estánconstituidos por los estudiantes académicamente más aventajados; mientras que los cursos delos programas académicos más fáciles son ofrecidos principalmente por los profesores menos exigentes, y están constituidos por los estudiantes académicamente más desventajados. La conclusión sobre estos procesos de auto selección es reforzada por evidencia proveniente demodelos de verosimilitud máxima que demuestran que la probabilidad de que un profesor aleatoriamente seleccionado se comporte como un evaluador exigente y riguroso o como uno lenitivo está significativamente determinada por el grupo de programas académicos al que pertenezca. Tal probabilidad está significativa y fuertemente influida por la heterogeneidad de ladistribución estudiantil de ha

FAQs

What does the grading taxonomy in this study classify?

It classifies faculty members and their corresponding academic fields at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón according to grading practices over time.

How are faculty members and academic fields ranked from easiest to most difficult?

They are scaled using effects on the intercepts of equations predicting GPA and student withdrawal proportions across 39,337 courses offered over 41 consecutive terms.

What key relationship do maximum-likelihood models find?

The probability that a faculty member behaves like a high-grader or low-grader is highly and significantly related to the cluster of academic fields they belong to, and it is also strongly influenced by the heterogeneity of students’ academic ability distribution.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca