Evaluation in HIST 381

A Contract Grading System

Excel Gradesheet for Recording Your Own Grades

There are no major exams. The approach to assignments and grading is much more incremental than that, emphasizing modest assignments and reflective writing. This spreads the work out over the semester, but also makes it exceedingly important (for both students and instructor) to keep up and stay on schedule. The general intent is to encourage engagement through interaction (written and oral) and to elevate quality through reinforcement.

The basic principle in contract grading is that in order to achieve a certain grade, you need to accumulate a certain number of points in the course of the semester. This means that while those with an aptitude for History may have an advantage, because they should score well on required work, those who do not have such aptitude for the subject can, to a large degree, make up for it by doing additional work. There are two good things about this basic scheme.

1. It values outcomes, achievement, more than raw talent. That’s the way it is in the so-called real world, after all.

2. It promotes a work ethic grounded in personal responsibility.

Contract Grading Scale Total Possible: 700	Letter Grade	Points Required
	A	630
	B	560
	C	490
	D	420

The table above stipulates the number of points required to achieve a certain letter grade in the course. There are two types of points.

1. Hard points: points that have to be earned through performance of a specified, required activity. Nothing else can substitute for hard points.

2. Soft points: points earned through performance of other, individual activities. They count just as much as hard points, and you need a certain number of soft points to achieve the grade you want, but they do not substitute for hard points.

Hard Points (every item required)	Assignment		Points Possible
	Assignments on Required Texts	Clark	50
		Sinclair	50
	Responses to Lectures	1 paper for up to 10 lectures	10
			10
			10
			10
			10
			10
			10
			10
			10
			10
	Participation	Attendance (4 points per class session, maximum 100)	100
		In-Class & Weblog Discussion	50
	Individual Projects	Book Review	50
		Primary Document Analysis	50
		Research Paper or Geomodeling Project	100
	Total Hard Points Possible		550

The table above shows how hard points are earned. Print this, or refer to it, to keep track of your progress in meeting the requirements for hard points. Follow the links to find out more about earning points through response papers, participation, and projects.

Soft Points (any item of which can be repeated)	Assignment	Points Possible
	Film Review	30
	Additional Book Review	50
	Spillover Attendance Points	4
	Ozzie-Kiwi Culture Day Entry	50
	Total Soft Points Possible	150

Notice how many of the points possible are soft points. Just keep working, and you can get all of these. Notice also that many of the hard points are matters of showing up (attendance) and being involved (discussion). All this emphasizes that in this course, your fate is in your own hands. Keep showing up and doing the work.

We need to avoid the problem of students turning in a glut of assignments at end of semester. They need to be spaced out through the term. Take this into account as you plan your work; do assignments early, take the pressure off yourself. As a baseline of prevention against end-of-term glut, however, we have certain simple ground rules for submission of assignments, with specific deadlines for certain key ones.

Book Reviews	See course calendar
Research Papers or Geomodeling Projects
Response Papers on Lectures	Within 1 week of conclusion of lecture unit
30- or 50-point Soft Points Submissions	No more than one in any 7-day period
General Discussion (not meeting a specific assignment)	Join in any time!
Bonus for Early Birds	Compile 100 soft points (excluding attendance and participation) by March 1, and receive 20 bonus points to be added to your final total at end of term

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