Sophia Yang's GWD thesis presentation
Monday, December 8,
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Senior Sophia Yang will present her thesis "Assessing Long-Term Effects of COVID-19–Induced Grading Policy Changes on Voluntary S/U Behavior" for Graduation with Distinction today, Monday, 8 December, at 1 pm EST in Old Chem 025. Sophia's thesis advisor is Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, Professor of the Practice of Statistical Science. Her other departmental advisors are Jerry Reiter, Professor of Statistial Science, and Ed Iversen, Research Professor of Statistical Science.
Sophia is majoring in Statistical Science with a concentration in Data Science and has a second major in Computer Science with a Concentration in AI and Machine Learning.
Title : Assessing Long-Term Effects of COVID-19–Induced Grading Policy Changes on Voluntary S/U Behaviord
Abstract:
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many universities implemented flexible grading policies. Five years later, some of these policies have been rolled back, while others remain in place. While prior work has examined these policies during the pandemic, less is known about their longer-term effects on student behavior. This thesis evaluates how COVID-19 induced changes to Duke University’s Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) policy affected voluntary S/U usage, using data from the Duke Assessment Office. I model the likelihood that a student voluntarily selects S/U grading for a course using logistic regression with student-level random effects. My findings identify significant covariates including time period relative to the pandemic, previous-term GPA, course level, course division, course load, and students’ academic level. Overall, this thesis provides empirical evidence of post-pandemic changes in voluntary S/U usage and offers insights that may guide future research and inform policy decisions.
Please direct questions to dus@stat.duke.edu.