Injustice. Students' grades depend on the first letter of their last name – American scientists
April 19, 09:29 Share:
An analysis of more than 30 million grade records found that students with last names starting with letters toward the end of the alphabet scored 0.3 points lower in grades than their peers (Photo: pixabay)
A recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan found that students with last names later in the alphabetical order often scored lower.
This phenomenon is due to biased grading and the submission order determined by online learning systems such as Canvas.
Read also:
Suddenly. Coffee impairs the brain's ability to learn – American scientists
An analysis of more than 30 million grade records found that students with last names starting with letters near the end of the alphabet scored 0.3 points lower in grades than their peers whose last names began with letters at the beginning of the alphabet.. This finding confirms the trend toward educational inequality.
The authors found that students with alphabetical disadvantage also received more negative and less polite comments from raters, resulting in poorer grade quality.. This phenomenon has an impact on students' grade point averages and may negatively affect their future career growth.
As the authors state, this may be explained by the fatigue of teachers who test students' knowledge.
Researchers recommend interviewing students in random order rather than alphabetically. It also suggests increasing the number of graders for larger classes and training them to be aware of and reduce bias in grading.
The analysis shows that even small things like alphabetical order can have major consequences for students' education and career development.