Though generally professors do not grade an exam based on any factors unrelated to a student’s performance, the university should consider putting in place a system whereby professors have no knowledge of a student’s identity when grading their work.
Such a system in now being used in the School of Law, because professors may sometimes unintentionally grade work based on their perception of students’ general ability, based on previously conceived notions of students’ class performance.
Each exam in the School of Law is given a number rather than a name, and a student must write on a separate form which number corresponds to the exam booklet. An administrator, not a professor, then proctors the exam and collects each test in a separate pile from the student’s identification forms.
Having someone unrelated to the course proctor an exam is also worth considering in BU’s other schools, because this way professors will not prematurely grade a student less for having completed an exam in a short period of time, as the professor may think that that student rushed through it and is undeserving of a grade reflected in the exam itself.
There would be no conceivable disadvantages to installing such a policy, and it could be easily implemented.
Of course any professor proven to have graded exams with a bias in favor or against that student, and not based only on the student’s performance on the test itself, should face suspension or be fired from the faculty. While this may be uncommon, having a policy of grading exams anonymously will prevent such bias in grading exams – however intentional or unintentional – from even taking place.
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