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University Daily Kansan Thursday, April 4. 1963
Projects, Hobbies Occupy Scannell
By Roxann Creitz
A more consistent grading system is one of the pet projects of the associate dean-elect of the KU Graduate School.
Dale Scannell, now director of Educational Research and Service, advocates an "anchored curve grading system," a curve modified to reflect the nature of an individual class. By means of this system, he hopes to make grades more meaningful.
SCANNELL'S primary professional interest is achievement testing. He is senior author of a battery of high school achievement tests which will be available commercially in the spring of 1964.
They will be standardized this fall: 80,000 students representing 47 of the United States will be tested with them, then.
Asked about his off-work hours, Scannell said, "I do spend numerous evenings writing and reading. At the same time, I have many non-academic interests.
"I bowl . . . in a faculty mixed bowling league.
"I enjoy athletics more now from a spectator standpoint. . ."
"HE PLAYS very good pool," commented another faculty member.
commented another faculty member. Mr. and Mrs. Scannell have four children: Steven, nine; Jeffrey, seven; Susan, 5; and Janet 1. "That's a handful right there," Scannell said with a smile.
"I suppose I have the normal doit-yourself urges that wives tell husbands they should have," he said. "... We terraced the side lawn ... poured a patio."
An associate professor of education, Scannell earned his Ph.D. in education psychology and measurement from the State University of Iowa in 1958. He had earned his B.A. in general science and his M. A. in education from that university.
WHILE IN COLLEGE, he held a variety of part-time jobs, including those with a service station, a telephone company and a lumber company. Five years prior to 1957, he was a chemistry instructor at Iowa City High School.
Scannell came to KU in 1959 from the University of California, at Berkeley, where he was an instructor in education.
He is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Educational Research Association, the National Council on Measurements in Education, the American Psychological Association, Phi Delta Kappa (professional) fraternity for men in education), and the American Association of University Professors.
AT A RECENT meeting of the American Educational Research Association, he presented his paper, "A New Type of Grade as a Criterion Measure." By use of which scores, how many, but not which, students should fall into each of the five areas of the curve (which then becomes anchored) is determined. Which students fall into each of the areas is determined by their relative achievement.
"After all, the definition of grades is arbitrary, and the important aspect of interpreting them is to know the basis on which they were assigned," Scannell explained.
Another Scannell paper, "Research in Creativity," was read by its author at the recent seventh National Art Education Conference.
In reply to questions about his goals, Scannell said, "In one way or another, everything I've done is related to the over-all process of improving education."
REGARDING THE importance of education, Scannell said, "I think everyone needs a certain amount of liberal education." He needs to be able to do such things as fill out his income tax return . . . he needs to be able to communicate . . . he needs to be happy and adjusted. "But this doesn't mean that everyone has to go to college," Scannell added.
"I think he ought to understand our way of life and how it differs from other ways of life . . . this is what I mean when I say 'liberal education.'"
In part of his paper, "A New Type of Grade as a Criterion Measure," which has been edited here, Scannell explains the relationship of the standard curve and his anchored curve in the following way.
THE STANDARD curve prescribes, for a cross-section of a school group, a grade distribution of 7% A's, 24% B's, 38% C's, 24% D's, and 7% F's. The percentages are obtained from the areas in a normal curve divided by setting the three middle categories each one unit wide with the C category extending from a value of -5 to a value of +5. The B category is between the values of +5 and +1.5, and the D category is between the values of -5 and -1.5. The A category is +1.5, and above, value: the F category is -1.5, and below, value.
If students in a given class were to represent a cross-section of the general population, ability scores would be distributed in the same proportion, although not necessarily to the same individuals. In actual practice, however, class members do not represent this cross-section — there are no typical classes.
THE ANCHORED curve provides an objective method of modifying grade distributions to reflect the degree and the manner of specific class departure from "typical" characteristics. The standard curve, used as a model for total distribution of grades in the general population, can determine what grades individual teachers should contribute to the total.
When a teacher calculates his grade distribution, ability scores for all class members are obtained. Distribution of ability scores determines grade distribution. Reference to the standard curve model reveals the type of grade distribution to be used. If a class is atypical because of a high proportion of very capable students, a relatively large number of A's and B's will be assigned: if the class is relatively deficient in talent, few A's and B's will be assigned.
HOWEVER, THE model curve does not determine who earns each grade, for this should depend on the student's relative levels of achievement.
Deadlines Given For Entrance Tests
An admissions test for the KU Law School will be given to prospective students in Lawrence, April 20.
Applications must be in by Friday. They may be obtained in the dean's office at the law school, or from Educational Testing Service at Princeton, N. J.
The test, given quarterly, will be administered again Aug. 3, in Topeka. Applications for the August examination must be submitted by July 20.
The fee for the test is $12.
Music Symposium Set
Virgil Thomson, composer, critic, and conductor, and Samuel Rosenbaum, trustee of the Music Performers Trust Funds of the Recording Industries, will appear at the fifth annual Symposium of Contemporary American Music.
The Symposium committee has chosen 20 compositions for performance from among the 241 scores received. The symposium, held May 5-7, is unique in that any composer residing in the United States may submit compositions.
Compositions to be performed range from flute solo to full symphony orchestra and concert choir. The project is privately supported by funds from the KU Endowment Association and grants from the Music Performers Trust Funds of the Recording Industries.
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UNIVERSITY OF THE SEVEN SEAS
A UNIVERSITY AFLOAT - 110 DAYS AROUND THE WORLD WITH COLLEGE COURSES FOR CREDIT.
A "Floating University" which will take approximately 750 U.S. students on two World Cruises during which fully accredited college credits can be obtained will commence next October.
Called the "University of the Seven Seas", the cruises will take students on two voyages of 110 and 120 days during which calls will be made at 22 ports including Lisbon, Naples, Alexandria, Bombay, Hong Kong, and Honolulu.
The University has existed for three years and its courses will be conducted, coincidentally, aboard the motor ship "Seven Seas", a 12,574-ton, 482-foot liner of the EUROPE-CANADA LINE, for which Holland-America Line is general passenger agent.
The ship is being especially modified to serve as a floating university with complete classroom facilities including a well-equipped library, medical staff, special film equipment and various other material relevant to college study.
The first semester voyage will begin on October 22, 1963, when the "Seven Seas" sails eastward from New York from Holland-America Line's new Pier 40, and will terminate in San Diego, California on February 8, 1964. The second semester voyage will last 120 days and sails from San Diego on February 11, 1964, ending in New York on June 9, 1964.
Headed by William T. Hughes, President of the University of the Seven Seas, the non-profit organization, originally sponsored by the Whittier Rotary Club, is incorporated in California and has acquired official status as an institution of higher learning from that state, which empowers it to issue transcripts of student records and to grant degrees.
In addition to Mr. Hughes and Executive Director Dr. E. Ray Nichols, Jr., the University Afloat will have approximately 40 professors and instructors including some 15 women faculty members.
Among the academic courses open to students who attend the University will be classes in architecture, creative writing, music, painting, theatre, business administration, economics, education, political science, astronomy, geography, geology, oceanography, public health, languages, history, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, religion, sociology, and speech.
Rates for students who enroll will range from $1590 which includes gratuities and special field trips while in port. In addition, tuition for each semester voyage at sea is $400.
Chaplains of the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths will be aboard the vessel. From time to time at different ports-of-call, the students will be addressed by prominent political figures, international leaders and educators in the various parts of the world.
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