The Ungraded Midterm

I would like to thank Dan Markel for having me as a guest blogger here on one of my favorite blogs, PrawfsBlawg, for the month of April.  I am an Assistant Professor at The John Marshall Law School, where I teach Evidence, Civil Procedure, and Criminal Procedure.  My primary blog is EvidenceProf Blog, where I post on a daily basis, and I also have started posting at Feminist Law Professors on about a bi-monthly basis.  For the most part, my posts on both of those blogs deal with evidentiary issues, and my plan this month at PrawfsBlawg is to expand the scope of my blogging to an area with which all teachers must grapple: the grading and evaluation of students.

While studying as a student and teaching as a professor at law school, the most persistent complaints I have heard regarding classes are that the "one exam to rule them all" format fails to give feedback to students throughout the semester and fails (literally and figuratively) students who had a single bad day.  I wish that I could figure out a way to solve the latter problem.  I know that my colleague, Sam Jones, gives students a few graded multiple choice tests throughout the semester in addition to the final exam and that other professors give students a graded midterm.

Certainly, there is a lot to commend these approaches, but I have two main reservations.  First, I have the feeling that if I gave a graded midterm, students would understandably but detrimentally (for both their other professors and them) shift most of their attention away from other classes in the week(s) before the midterm (giving students multiple points of stress in addition to multiple points of grading). Second, by the time the middle of the semester rolls around, I've set things up in class that won't pay off until later.  I do give an ungraded midterm, and my recent Criminal Procedure midterm contained a knock-and-announce fact pattern after we had discused the knock-and-announce requirement but before we had discussed Hudson v. Michigan, 547 U.S. 586 (2006), and its holding that the exclusionary rule does not apply to evidence seized after officers fail to comply with it.

I do, however, feel that my ungraded midterm at least partially addressed the latter problem (I will explain another way that I try to address this problem in my next post).  Here's what I do.  In a 14 week semester, I hand out an ungraded midterm in week 7 for one class and week 8 for the other.  Students have a week to complete the midterm, and I suggest that they treat it as if it were the final exam and do it under timed conditions.  The class after students turn in their answers, I do a general in-class discussion about the midterm and the answers/analysis I wanted. The following week, I give students answer keys with the points that they got and missed and the grades that they would have received if the midterm were the curved final exam. I then encourage students to meet with me to discuss ways to improve on the final.

It seems that there are pros and cons to my approach:

Pros

(1) It lets students see where they stand near the mid-point of the semester;

(2) It helps students better understand how to tackle the rest of the class and final exam preparation;

(3) It lets me see where I stand and whether I need to go back and further explain some concepts from the first half of class;

(4) (I hope and think) that it improves the overall class performance on the final exam;

(5) (For new(er) professors): It gives you a dry run to see whether your final exam will be too short/long and/or easy/difficult;

(6) (For new(er) professors): It gives students an opportunity to see what they can expect on the final exam;

(7) Compared to the graded midterm, it doesn't take too much time away from other classes;

(8) Compared to the graded midterm, it isn't overly stressful for students; and

(9) (For 1Ls): It provides an introduction to law school test taking.

Cons

(1) It is still somewhat time consuming for students;

(2) It is time consuming for the professor (but this can be reduced by using the same midterm each semester, just doing the general in-class discussion rather than giving individualized feedback, etc.);

(3) Compared to a graded midterm, fewer students will turn in answers (I have gotten about a 75% completion rate; I suppose that I could keep the midterm ungraded but make it mandatory and decrease the grades of students who don't turn in answers);

(4) Midterms in general are difficult to give in some classes, such as Criminal Law, and on certain subjects that are developed over the course of the semester; and

(5) Students who do poorly on the midterm might "check out" during the second half of class (although it might also light a fire under them).

On balance, I think that the pros outweigh the cons, but I'm new to this game and would love to hear what others think.  Do you give a graded or ungraded midterm and why or why not?  Also, is anyone aware of a law school that had mandatory midterms in all classes and blocks off a week for all midterms to be given so as to avoid the "focus shift" problem I raised above?