next »

[roadrunner_math]

Wow, I just talked to my department chair today, to find, to my amazement,
that I'm "not being rehired" because my pass rate isn't high enough.

And to add insult to injury, today is my birthday.

[tuxedo_cat]

Sorry, roadrunner.  That truly sucks.  It would truly suck even without the lousy timing.

[onion]

That's nuts.  I think they would have talked to you earlier if your pass rate didn't meet their expectations.
My condolences.

And happy birthday.

[neutralname]

That's awful.  Sorry to hear that the sucky school didn't want you.  I guess next time you will know to pass all your students no matter how craptacular they are.  You deserve a drink.

[normative_]

Roadrunner, I hope you get a chance to go drown your sorrows with your friends, our whatever you do with them. Or if you're new somewhere and don't have a circle yet, that you can get in touch with those far away.

It's sad but true that many administrators just want (enrolment, graduation, third-party funding) targets to be met, and for problems to 'go away', and for you to make all that happen, regardless of how you make it happen. It's not comforting to say that, except that it doesn't necessarily reflect on you, but it may serve as a warning to others. I've seen newbies in my department come and go precisely because the department expected excellence in thing A, and they didn't see it within the first semester. Hasta la vista.

It's become a rough new world. We're paid by the student, for good or bad.
Good luck with your next contract.

[mended_drum]

I think that you should go over to the wiki and note this fact on the "universities to watch out for" section.  This is exactly the kind of information that job seekers--tt and otherwise--would want to know but be unable to find out about an institution.  Heck, if you pm me the name of the institution, I'll do it myself.

[aneumey]

I'd be curious to know some context.  How different were your pass rates from other instructors.  Why?  Was there something different (off campus location, online, odd hours, etc)?  Other instructors passing unqualified students.  The reason I ask is this.   If classes at the same time on the same campus with the same student pool show one instructor having a much lower percentage of passing students, I would wonder.   One of two things is true - either most instructors are inflating grades or one instructor can't teach.  Given the way it was expressed, I think that the former is probably true in  your case.   

[helpful]

We have the opposite problem here; too many students pass our courses.

[llanfair]

We have the opposite problem here; too many students pass our courses.

True that.  Here's a good article on how hard it is to flunk out of a Canadian university:

http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2008.04-education-academic-failure-to-fail-jay-teitel/?ref=2008.05-education-academic-failure-to-fail-jay-teitel&page=

And my condolences, Roadrunner.  Come up here.  We're much nicer.

[kamiakin]

I think that you should go over to the wiki and note this fact on the "universities to watch out for" section.  This is exactly the kind of information that job seekers--tt and otherwise--would want to know but be unable to find out about an institution.  Heck, if you pm me the name of the institution, I'll do it myself.

Yes, please do this.

Then go and flunk all your students this semester.

[mouseman]

Roadrunner:  I was reading your previous posts - could the non-renewal be the result of the fact that you had the temerity to complain when they increased your teaching load for no extra pay?  Not that I wouldn't have done the same, and you may be better in the long run getting out that toxic wasteland university. 

Here is a way to help yourself:  Imagine the your soon-to-be ex-Chair, on an operating table.  Delicate operation, life at balance, and such.  And who should be in charge of the surgery?  Tom Smith, an blathering idiot who shouldn't be allowed to carve a Thanksgiving turkey.  He is, however, a Doctor, a Surgeon, mind you, because he kept on passing courses that were dumbed down to increase pass rate.  Your chair is also not fully under, because the Anesthesiologist was in the same cohort as Dr. Smith.  Now, for the next half-hour, imagine the surgery...

[relationalista]

Sorry to hear it, Roadrunner. Ummm ... happy birthday?
And good job on failing those who deserved to fail.

[seniorscholar]

If classes at the same time on the same campus with the same student pool show one instructor having a much lower percentage of passing students, I would wonder.   One of two things is true - either most instructors are inflating grades or one instructor can't teach. 

More common alternative, as I discovered during my term as director of undergraduate studies: The section with the passing grades (say "section 001") was the first one rostered when registration began, and filled up quickly with the eager, interested students who registered promptly. The other section (perhaps "section 34") was opened many weeks (or months) later, during wrap-up registration, and contains the students who couldn't register early because they had incompletes from the prior semester, or because they had to pass something in summer school in order to have a GPA that would not get them kicked out of school, or were simply too befuddled to realize they had to register before classes began and they realized they didn't have any.

[roadrunner_math]

Thank you all for the condolences and the birthday wishes.

I'd be curious to know some context.  How different were your pass rates from other instructors.  Why?  Was there something different (off campus location, online, odd hours, etc)?  Other instructors passing unqualified students.  The reason I ask is this.   If classes at the same time on the same campus with the same student pool show one instructor having a much lower percentage of passing students, I would wonder. 

Yes, sorry, I was too upset yesterday to elaborate.

According to my chair, my pass rates are sometimes "on the low side of the mean" and other times "much lower than other sections." These are regular daytime classes on campus. Now, mind you, we are talking about *one* course here - calculus one - and I have taught many other courses during my time here. This is the first year I've taught calc 1 here. (I've taught it many times in the past, but at other universities.) As I've mentioned in other posts, our calculus 1 is "modular," meaning that it is divided into 3 five-week mini-courses. So my chair is talking about my pass rate in each of these 5-week "terms."

One of two things is true - either most instructors are inflating grades or one instructor can't teach.  Given the way it was expressed, I think that the former is probably true in  your case.  

My chair was of course implying the latter, which was very hurtful. I really hope that neither is true. I have a lot of respect for my colleagues here, and I'm not a newbie teacher. I've taught for several years, four years here, with (I thought) some success, and some positive feedback from students. I really don't know why my pass rates were lower than others' - it may really just be the luck of the draw that I got some very weak classes. Or maybe my colleagues *are* more successful in teaching our students - in which case I'd like to learn from them so I can help my students more. Oh, wait, I'm not going to get the chance.

Roadrunner:  I was reading your previous posts - could the non-renewal be the result of the fact that you had the temerity to complain when they increased your teaching load for no extra pay?  Not that I wouldn't have done the same, and you may be better in the long run getting out that toxic wasteland university.

It's entirely possible, but I just couldn't let it pass without comment. Plus I challenged our dean in a public meeting about the lecturers having been summarily dismissed in the middle of last summer and forced to reapply for our jobs. Yeah, I know, not very politic, but it was just such a shabby way to treat us I had to say something.

I think that you should go over to the wiki and note this fact on the "universities to watch out for" section.  This is exactly the kind of information that job seekers--tt and otherwise--would want to know but be unable to find out about an institution.  Heck, if you pm me the name of the institution, I'll do it myself.

I'm afraid I'm a little out of the loop here - which wiki is that?

[untenured]

You challenged the Dean in a public meeting without tenure.  I'm so sorry to hear this 'pass rate' business is being used as a likely excuse to fire you.

The tried and true lesson of STFU applies here, unfair though the Dean's conduct might be.

Untenured