Short Reports

• Grading Patterns at Rhode Island College,
  By Lisa Church, Assistant Professor of Accounting
• A New Campus Initiative: The American Democracy Project,
  By Brian Allen, Director of the Campus Center

A new feature in Volume 2 of Issues in Teaching and Learning, the Short Reports focus on activities and research on campus having to do with matters affecting teaching and learning.

Grading Patterns at Rhode Island College

Lisa Church, Assistant Professor of Accounting

This article reviews the work of the ad-hoc committee on grade inflation at Rhode Island College from the spring of 2001 through the fall of 2002. The committee recommends that reports on grading patterns be circulated among the College administration for periodic review.

A New Campus Initiative: The American Democracy Project

Brian Allen, Director of the Campus Center
Sandra Enos, Associate Professor of Sociology
James McCroskery, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs

At Rhode Island College we are preparing for participation in the American Democracy Project. The ADP is a long-term endeavor involving at least 146 colleges and universities that is being jointly coordinated by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the New York Times. The project was initiated by concerns that in the United States there has been a decrease in the level of civic participation and engagement evidenced, for example, by a decline in voting and in community involvement. "The American Democracy project rests on a core belief … that civic engagement is critical f or the preservation and vitality of American democracy."