Abstract:
Teaching practice is a vital component of pre-service teacher education, designed to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and its practical application in educational settings. This supervised experience fosters the professional growth of student teachers (STs), allowing them to develop essential teaching skills. However, the practicum course assessment mechanism in Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) faces challenges, notably in the form of grade inflation. Grade inflation, a global issue across academic institutions, refers to the rise in grade point averages without a corresponding increase in students' knowledge, skills, or attitudes.
This study aims to identify the key factors contributing to practicum course grade inflation at the Gondar College of Teacher Education (GCTE) over a thirteen-year period from 2007 to 2021. Data obtained from the college registrar and the practicum coordinator's unit indicates that 67% of student teachers received inflated practicum grades during this period, with a noticeable upward trend in inflation over the years.
The research seeks to uncover the underlying causes of practicum grade inflation and highlight both academic and administrative factors driving this trend. By doing so, the study provides insights into the phenomenon and offers recommendations for corrective measures to curb its rise.
A hybrid data mining approach was adopted to achieve the research objectives, combining various techniques to enhance the analysis. The dataset, consisting of 15,059 instances and 18 attributes, was analyzed using Python and Microsoft Excel 2013. Several attributes were discretized, categorizing grades into levels such as Very Good, Good, Satisfactory, and Fail. The Apriori algorithm was employed for association rule mining, with various thresholds applied to generate meaningful association rules. These rules were evaluated using interestingness measures such as lift, correlation, and Zhang's Metric, supported by input from domain experts to ensure relevance and practical significance.
The findings reveal that attributes such as CGPA_Poor, Major_CGPA_Poor, No_Courses_Medium, and Total_Credit_Hours_Medium have strong associations with practicum grade inflation, indicating their significant influence. Additionally, factors such as Instructional Media in English, Practicum_CGPA_Fair,and Sex_M show moderate associations, suggesting a notable but lesser impact on grade inflation. These insights provide a clearer understanding of the drivers behind grade inflation in practicum courses, supporting efforts to address this critical issue effectively.
