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[adjunctville]

Does anyone have a good policy on earning back lost points for written assignments?
Here's what happened when I made that offer--not thinking about how it would work with another classroom policy.

I have started "charging" students who write shorter papers than assigned. For example, half the word count means I grade the paper, calculate the percentage of assigned words, and multiply the grade by this percentage.

Student A submits a paper that's only 2/3 of assigned grade. It has other problems. He gets a 55.

I had other reasons for offering the entire class a chance to revise for up to 1/3 the lost points, so wouldn't you know it, Student A is first in line with his revision. I could return 1/3 of the lost points, but he never bothered to lengthen the paper.

What's fair here? Before I start docking for length, the grade is a 70. Doesn't seem fair to the others.
If I apply the percentage rule, the student gets almost nothing for the revision.

[new_bus_prof]

It's not clear to me what the problem is.

A simpler policy is to simply average the two grades earned.

[adjunctville]

The problem is, the student attempts to get credit for making some tweaks, per my guidance, but fails to do the heavy lifting and actually lengthen the paper to the assigned word count. This wasn't even a long paper.

So the student hasn't really done anything beyond fix what I said to fix.

[new99]

If I apply the percentage rule, the student gets almost nothing for the revision.

That seems fair: applying the percentage rule, so the student gets a miniscule amount of points for the revision, which is appropriate for the amount of work he put into the revision.

So the student hasn't really done anything beyond fix what I said to fix.

Actually, he hasn't. He hasn't fixed a significant problem, which was the length, so he shouldn't get credit for work he hasn't done. If you apply your policy consistently to everyone and on every draft, then that means give him the points for the things he fixed, but apply the penalties for length, for him and anyone else who falls short of your length requirements.

[polly_mer]

New99 nails it.

The only question you have to ask yourself is "Does the policy result in what my professional judgment says the grade should be?"

Someone who hasn't written a full-length paper doesn't deserve a passing grade.  The math merely confirms that qualitative notion.

I've often put "no additional points earned" on resubmissions by people who didn't make the kinds of changes that improve the paper to be worth more points.  Sometimes, I pat myself on the back for being kind about not recording a grade that is lower than the original grade.

[scienceprof]

I am a little unclear on the math here - do you take 33% off the top (giving him a 66 the first time) then take off other points, or do you grade the paper on its other merits, then he gets 66% of that score?

Because if it is the latter, it seems that if the new paper earns a 70, but then the penalty is applied, the revised paper would be scored 66% of 70, or a 46, implying that it is worse than the first submission.

[oldadjunct]

I think you are trying to be too surgical here, and complicating things for yourself and your students.  If a paper is significantly off-length (however defined) then the assignment wasn't completed (F) and a student can't "revise" what wasn't done in the first place (2XF=F in my book).  KISS is my motto.

[femmawatts]

OP, your policy is a little confusing.  Are you suggesting that students who revise will be able to raise their grade by one third of the initial grade assigned?  I think that's what you mean but I'm not sure. At any rate you might just want to simplify the policy to minimize confusion.

How about this:  Students who fail to come within maybe 50 words (or what ever you deem acceptable) of the prescribed word count are subject to at least to a full letter grade deduction.  You can also take points away for things like failing to give enough evidence or clearly explain the argument, things that are likely to occur in a paper that is too short anyway.

In terms of the re-write you might only offer to raise the grade one full letter grade.  Which seems reasonable, as a C paper is unlikely to ever be an A paper.

You might also consider failing students who hand in a paper that is only half of the word count.

Finally I would suggest a rubric that shows these criteria, as well as whatever else you want to include.

Hope this helps.

[octoprof]

Does anyone have a good policy on earning back lost points for written assignments?
Here's what happened when I made that offer--not thinking about how it would work with another classroom policy.

I have started "charging" students who write shorter papers than assigned. For example, half the word count means I grade the paper, calculate the percentage of assigned words, and multiply the grade by this percentage.

Student A submits a paper that's only 2/3 of assigned grade. It has other problems. He gets a 55.

I had other reasons for offering the entire class a chance to revise for up to 1/3 the lost points, so wouldn't you know it, Student A is first in line with his revision. I could return 1/3 of the lost points, but he never bothered to lengthen the paper.

What's fair here? Before I start docking for length, the grade is a 70. Doesn't seem fair to the others.
If I apply the percentage rule, the student gets almost nothing for the revision.

So he gets 2/3s of a 70.  His mistake. You made the rule, now apply it.

[wet_blanket]

Does anyone have a good policy on earning back lost points for written assignments?
Here's what happened when I made that offer--not thinking about how it would work with another classroom policy.

I have started "charging" students who write shorter papers than assigned. For example, half the word count means I grade the paper, calculate the percentage of assigned words, and multiply the grade by this percentage.

Student A submits a paper that's only 2/3 of assigned grade. It has other problems. He gets a 55.

I had other reasons for offering the entire class a chance to revise for up to 1/3 the lost points, so wouldn't you know it, Student A is first in line with his revision. I could return 1/3 of the lost points, but he never bothered to lengthen the paper.

What's fair here? Before I start docking for length, the grade is a 70. Doesn't seem fair to the others.
If I apply the percentage rule, the student gets almost nothing for the revision.

How about his original score plus 2/3 the difference between that and the new score?  So 55+(70-55)*2/3=65. 

[prof_cj]

So the student hasn't really done anything beyond fix what I said to fix.

Actually, he hasn't. He hasn't fixed a significant problem, which was the length, so he shouldn't get credit for work he hasn't done. If you apply your policy consistently to everyone and on every draft, then that means give him the points for the things he fixed, but apply the penalties for length, for him and anyone else who falls short of your length requirements.

Gonna agree with this.

[scienceprof]

I like wet blanket's solution.