A Comparison of Final Grades Awarded by Full-Time Faculty and Part-Time Faculty by Academic Center for Winter Term 1997.

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38

Academic Achievement; Business Education; College Faculty; College Instruction; College Students; Distance Education; Full Time Faculty; Grades (Scholastic); Graduate Study; Higher Education; Legal Education (Professions); Part Time Faculty; Psychology; Teacher Education; Undergraduate Study; Universities

This study examined differences in final course grades awarded by full-time and part-time faculty by academic center at Nova Southeastern University (Florida). Course data were obtained on 387 full-time and 812 part-time faculty and 63 administrators who taught one or more standard courses during winter term 1997. It was found that 87 percent of all grades were successful (A, B, C, or Pass) and that the modal grade (33 percent of total) at the university was an A. It was also found that part-time faculty awarded a significantly greater frequency of successful grades than their full-time counterparts. These differences were observed in the undergraduate studies program, the Center for the Advancement of Education, the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, and the Law Center. Part-time faculty were in parity with their full-time counterparts in regard to the frequency of successful grades awarded in the Center for Psychological Studies and the School of Computer and Information Sciences. An appendix provides three sets of data tables. (MDM)

1999

ED429482