Re: In Defense of North

["Dr. Beth Rapp Young" <byoung@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu>]

I'm not Stephen, but since we have also compared grades of uwc clients vs
nonclients (in w-i courses where students come to the uwc in large numbers, such
as fyc), I can offer my answers to these questions.

a) obliterating confidentiality?  As a university support service, we have access
to the student records database, and can obtain SAT scores, grades, and other
info for purposes of program assessment--a fairly standard procedure which other
support services also follow.  The person who obtains this data signs a
confidentiality agreement in advance (actually, we ask all staff to sign
confidentiality agreements) and works on a secure computer.

We follow the usual procedures for analyzing confidential records; we collect all
the data, then remove identifying info (such as student id numbers) from the file
before we begin to work with the data.  When we report results, we do so for the
entire group of students, not for one student at a time.  When working with
records for hundreds of students, it is pretty difficult to notice individual
grades anyway.

b) trusting the grades? Since we get the grades from the student records
database, we don't have to ask students to self-report.

c) sending the message that a wctr is supposed to raise grades?  This one is
trickier.  Of course, I put disclaimers in every report that mentions
grades--it's pretty easy to explain that grades usually depend on more than
writing (tests, attendance, etc.), so good writing alone does not an "A" make.
My annual report always highlights other measures too (e.g., student satisfaction
measures, client comments, increases in #s of clients, etc.)  And, frankly, we've
found that grades are not always higher for wctr clients . . . in which case, I
find something else to brag about.  (There's always something!)

But it's clear that administrators like to see concrete evidence that the uwc has
some effect on student writing, or, at the very least, that we're looking for
that concrete evidence.  This year, our writing center was awarded a 56% budget
increase to expand services--currently one-time money, but I've been given reason
to hope that the increase will be continued in future years.  I credit the fact
that we are carrying out these sorts of assessments with helping us obtain that
increase.

As we are a relatively new writing center, it may be more necessary for us than
for established centers to demonstrate that we're helping students.

kfischer wrote:

> Stephen, offlist here, how in heaven's name do you track their grades and SAT
> scores without a) obliterating confidentialitiy; b) trusting credibility (if
> the grades are reported by students, themselves); c) paying credence to the
> abhorrant notion that a w.c. is supposed to raise grades (as opposed to
> assisting with writing)?

Beth Young

~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Beth Rapp Young   Building: LS-616, +1347
Director, University Writing Center Office: 407-823-2853
Assistant Professor, English  Fax: 407-823-3007
University of Central Florida, Orlando Email: byoung@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~byoung

"Nulla dies sine linea."
-Pliny

"Writers are people who write."
-Donald Murray