Student Work
"Students are often more intelligent and richer in character than they appear. Seeing the intelligence and character that transpires behind that which appears is essential in teaching."
–Josh Guilar, Organizational Communication Professor
On most quantitative indicators of academic performance Communication Studies students are similar to other CSUS students. Our majors tend to score a little lower on their entering SAT scores (mid-to-high 900s) and a little higher on their WPE passage rates (low seventy percent passage rate for transfer students and high seventy percent area for native students). One area where the Communication Studies Department has measurably improved over the past five years has been in the area of graduation rate. The six year graduation rate has improved from 30% in 1999 to 44% in 2003—from a position of trailing the rest of the university to a level of surpassing the rest of the university. Some of this may be attributable to chance, but some may also be due to other factors such as implementation of the pre-major and an improved academic advising policy.
Although the grade distribution for the department is comparable to that of the college and the university, the department became aware that its grade distribution appeared overly skewed toward high grades. The department addressed the perceived problem during spring 2002 semester. The department decided to provide all instructors feedback once each year regarding the grade distributions in their courses. The plan seems to have improved the grade distribution. The percentage of “A” grades has declined noticeably. The percentage of lower grades, however, has not increased, rather it appears that most of the shift was from “A” grades to “B” grades.
