MarkBook® section 7-9
"Drop-The-Low" MarkBook® section 7-9
"Drop-The-Low" 
"Drop-The-Low" is the process of boosting
overall student grades by deleting one or more of the lowest scores/marks for each student. Usually this entails one mark in each category OR a fixed number of marks. For instance, a teacher may say to a class that he/she will drop their six poorest marks regardless of category. Generally, Drop-The-Low is unplanned. It seldom appears as an evaluation tool
on a course description sheet nor is it usually announced at the start of a course. Instead, it's typically performed spontaneously in response to vociferous requests from students. When done in this manner, it is questionable as to whether the application of drop-the-low involves sound teaching/evaluation technique or is just a desire for personal popularity on the evaluator's part. Sometimes drop-the-low is used to boost a low class average or to move weak students' overall grades above a critical threshold. Students usually cite some other teacher as the model for this technique: "Miss So-And-So drops our worst TWELVE marks!" Students also try the "you-don't-know-anything-new" technique: "Is it true that you went to teachers' college before the last Ice Age?" Initially, few students will object to the application of drop-the-low. It's too good to be true! All believe that it will boost their
overall grade. Even when the top students figure out that it does little for them personally, they do not publicly resist for fear of condemnation by their peers. However, complaints DO happen in private. When better students realize that the class average moved upwards much more than their own
grade, and that classmates got "forgiven" for failing to do assigned work, they correctly argue that drop-the-low is not fair. However, by this time, it's too late - the evaluator is committed to the process.
Should a technique be used which benefits a non-compliant student
more than a compliant one with a solid work ethic?
Should a technique be used which forgives students for failing to complete assigned work?
Should a technique be used which substantially increases the class average and median without altering the upper quartile's
grades?
Should a technique be used which is designed to do nothing more than boost personal popularity?
Should a technique be used which is eventually perceived as unfair and which upsets
the best students?
Given that the
grade is supposed to be a measure of the degree of acquisition of the
curriculum, should a technique that artificially raises that measure, and
gives a false impression, be employed?
Announce the use of drop-the-low at the beginning of the course or term. It should be a common policy across all sections of the same course.
There will be serious problems if one teacher uses it and the rest do not! Announce that only selected categories will be affected. For instance,
announce that one Lab Report, one
Quick test, one Assignment, and one Book Report will be dropped at the end of the course.
Simultaneously, indicate that drop-the-low will not be used for major tests, a project, or the exam. Generally, the idea is to permit the technique in categories where there are numerous
assessments. This is a professional
judgment by the evaluators and there should be agreement among all teachers of
the course. For instance, if there are two major summative tests and that category is heavily weighted, it would be unwise to use drop-the-low. However, if there are eight major tests planned, the opposite decision would be sound. Announce that drop-the-low will be used ONLY when a student has completed ALL
assessments within a qualifying category. In other words, any zero or missed
item within that category means no drop-the-low will be used. Decide whether a missing item disqualifies the student from just that one category or from all categories. Remember, the objective is motivation. Stick to the announcement. There will be TONS of pressure from students to modify the policy just before official
reports are due. Reputations are on the line. As a last resort, suggest that drop-the-low
will be abandoned entirely if students continue to ask
to extend the technique to more categories. Post a code-name Class Report in your classroom as described in section 8-7. Have your students select which
assessment items they wish to have dropped. If they want the technique used, they must give you a written
and organized list (category and assessment number) such as
John Bull:
Lab Reports assessment #16
Surprise Tests assessment #27
Assignments assessment #12
Book Reviews assessment #34 MarkBook does NOT have an automatic built-in routine to drop the lowest mark in each category. Instead, MarkBook can view each student's performance within a category in order for the evaluator to
determine if the student qualifies (i.e. all items complete). If you have used the technique described in section 7-4 to distinguish between "earned zeros" and "incomplete zeros", this task will be easier. quickly change the current mark on any selected "to-be-dropped"
assessment(s) to a NoMark if the student qualifies. From the Main
Operating Screen, section 3-1, click on Student Report, select a student, and then select any qualifying
Category using the toggle under the student's name. The following image is a Student Report with one category isolated -
KnowUnd. Note that ONLY the five assessments in this category are displayed. Also note that the
student's overall grade within the KnowUnd category - 52% - currently shows.
This student has some Zero!s but none in this
"KnowUnd" category (note the cells at the upper right). Consequently, this student qualifies for drop-the-low as per the teacher's announced policy. Select the target
assessment. In this case, #7 is clearly the lowest mark. The list from each student described above at the end of "How To Use Drop-The-Low Appropriately" is very handy since it may contain unexpected information.
A student may elect to drop an assessment even though it's not the lowest mark!
They will make that decision if they determine that an assessment is so heavily weighted that its removal will have greater upward impact on the overall
grade! You will be amazed at the degree of mathematical skill shown by many students in selecting which item(s) to drop! Once the target mark has been identified, single click on the Actual Mark
(7/100 in this example), and the following update dialogue box will appear.
To change the 7
out of 100 to a NoMark, remove the 7 in the small window and leave the window blank.
Click Enter. The Back button will change to a Save button. Click Save and MarkBook will return
to this same student's
KnowUnd screen with 7/100 altered to a NoMark and all calculations updated. If there's any question as to which is the most effective
assessment to drop, experiment by editing/restoring several candidate
assessments in turn to see which one's removal had the best impact on the category. Whichever one makes the category go up the most will do the same thing for the overall grade.
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