Grading 153,000 Exams with 615 Friends — Alan Rossman
This past June marked the end of my third year in the role of Chief Reader for the Advanced Placement program in statistics. My primary responsibility is to coordinate and oversee the grading of approximately 153,000 exams. Fortunately, I shared this task shared with 615 other statistics teachers from around the country who gathered in Kansas City, Mo. on June 10-16, 2012. One of the great things about this process is that I was able to rely on many Cal Poly colleagues to fill important roles and to make the experience enjoyable.
Soma Roy participated in the AP grading for the first time this year. Her supervisor told me that Soma immediately performed like a seasoned veteran, applying the scoring rubrics thoughtfully and consistently.
Heather Smith served as a grader for the second year. On short notice I asked Heather to make a presentation at one of the professional development sessions that we hold for faculty in the evenings. She introduced teachers to the topic of quality control and provided examples of why statisticians need to both contribute to this area and encourage their students to study it.
This was John Walker’s third year as a grader. John’s supervisor emphasized that John was an extremely valuable member of her team and that he was considered the "go to" person for difficult questions.
Matt Carlton has been a grader for many years. This was his second year grading the alternate version of the exam. Only a few dozen graders are selected for this important position because it involves grading a greater variety of questions than most graders experience.
Karen McGaughey joined the leadership team this year, helping to develop the scoring guidelines and also supervising a team of eight graders. Karen adapted to this role quickly and provided valuable feedback on draft scoring guidelines while supervising her team with deft professionalism.
Roxy Peck supervised grading the international version of the exam. She supervised the development of scoring guidelines and led the trainings on their application. Roxy is a former Chief Reader, and I greatly appreciate Roxy’s willingness to apply her experience and leadership to continue to help with the grading process.
Beth Chance served as Assistant Chief Reader and was a driving force behind the success of the grading experience. Beth is a tremendous problem solver and multi-tasker, and she used these skills to great effect in Kansas City. Whenever anyone had a need or problem, Beth took care of it immediately. She made sure that statistical inference questions across various forms were graded consistently throughout the week, gave advice to presenters about how to incorporate clicker technology into their trainings, arranged for breaks to be held in a more accessible location, coordinated the signing of books by our guest speaker Sharon Bertsch McGrayne (author of "The Theory That Would Not Die") and developed a more efficient system for providing the leadership team with data on how consistently their graders were performing. Beth’s contributions to the grading process were invaluable.
Our department’s involvement with grading AP exams is extraordinary and unique. I recently attended a conference session on the topic of increasing college faculty participation in the AP program. The College Board presenter had no way of knowing I was in the audience or what department and university I represent. Across all AP subjects and considering all universities in the country, one particular department in one specific university was held up as a model for all others to strive for. You guessed it: Cal Poly's Statistics Department.
Once again I am very proud to be a member of this department, and I greatly appreciate the help of departmental colleagues in the formidable task of grading 153,000 AP Statistics exams. Perhaps even more remarkably, these people make this event a downright fun experience.
