Re-evaluating precept participation credit

And for many classes, participation counts for a lot, especially in the humanities and social sciences. In the English and history departments, for example, participation averages 22.0 and 21.0 percent respectively across all courses offered this spring, making participation worth about the same as a midterm. For politics classes, participation is worth 18.5 percent. Only one politics, two history and two English classes had no participation credit at all. Yet there is almost no standardization across the departments as to how this grade is determined, and individual preceptors and professors often say little to their students about this component of the final grade. I raise my hand and make my comment, hoping that’s good enough, but I’ve never really been sure.

Perhaps most problematic is that students rarely know how their participation is being graded. Esther Schor, the departmental representative for English, said that participation credit can mean “a great variety of things, including discussion participation, weekly postings to Blackboard, moderating web-based discussions, contributions to a course website, etc.” Weekly postings might be more concrete grade determinants than general precept participation, but there is still a huge amount of courses that don’t take advantage of these opportunities. In these classes, grading is based solely on the comments students make in class.

This was the case for one of my courses last semester. Participation ended up counting for 40 percent of the final grade. We wrote an eight to 10 page final paper, as well as two shorter papers, but none of these were weighted as heavily as precept participation. I asked my preceptor after the semester had ended how he had figured out these grades. He told me that he had noted during precept whether students had “not contributed, contributed in a ‘standard’ way, or contributed in an ‘excellent’ way.” He went on to say that he consolidated two or three weeks in his grading, because he recognized it was a rough system and because students sometimes switched precepts according to their schedules.

While he was a great preceptor, the system was more than just “rough.” We received detailed comments on our papers and the shortcomings on our arguments, but there was no similar feedback on our participation in class. This practice is not his fault — preceptors are given little guidance in determining this portion of the grade, nor is there sufficient oversight from the department.

Many students might assume that participation is nothing more than a grade booster. The departmental representative for history, Alec Dun GS ’04, assured me, however, that the student who merely shows up to precept — according to history department policy — would receive a C. And while individual preceptors might not go over expectations for participation, the history department lists those expectations on its website. Don’t be fooled —participation can, indeed, lower your grade.

And what if you’re worried that you might be in that situation, concerned that your participation might be bringing you down? Departmental representatives from history, politics and English suggest that students check in with their preceptors. But if preceptors are keeping only rough estimates until the end of the semester — like mine, along with those of many others — how could they give a student a useful answer? Participation credit might not be totally arbitrary, but it’s certainly not transparent either. Preceptors should be held accountable for updating students on their progress, perhaps midway or periodically throughout the semester.

I would encourage social science and humanities departments to seriously reevaluate the standards they place on precept participation. While 20 percent might seem appropriate for a participation grade, many would agree that 40 or 50 percent is excessive. The English department already places caps on the weight given to final exams; similar caps should be considered for participation grade. Regardless of how much participation counts for, we need greater accountability in how these grades are determined. Students need to know what specifically they can do to improve their participation grades. Whether that’s just bringing in a few comments on the readings or questions for the preceptor, professors and preceptors need a metric beyond a checkmark for “standard,” “excellent” or “silent.” No one likes to spew words for the sake of their grades; nobody wants “that kid” in precept.

Brandon Davis is a sophomore from Westport, Conn. He can be reached at bsdavis@princeton.edu.