Why is the Bell Curve Controversial?
Although the normal distribution, colloquially known as the bell curve, is foundational to parametric statistics, it is contested in some academic circles because of its implications for student achievement and grade distributions.
Research some of the arguments for and against the bell curve representing a normal distribution of student achievement. Develop an original response providing your perspective, guided by these questions:
Should we expect a quartile of students achieving at the top and bottom ends of the curve as “normative” in education? Why or why not?
If a curve representing student achievement is not normally distributed, skewed to the left or right, what does this imply for the distribution of grades? Is it necessarily a bad thing if grades are skewed one way or another?
Why, in most cases, do statisticians defend the bell curve as representing a “normally distributed” sample of any given population?
Using and Interpreting Statistics in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences – William E. Wagner III & Brian Joseph Gillespie
Required Readings:
Chapter 4: Data Frequency and Distributions
Chapter 5: Using and Interpreting Univariate and Bivariate Visualizations
Chapter 6: Central Tendency and Variability
The Tao of Statistics: A Path to Understanding (With No Math) – Dana K. Keller
Required Readings:
Chapter 7: Counts – Frequencies
Chapter 9: Scatterings – Distributions
Chapter 10: Bell-Shaped – The Normal Curve
Chapter 11: Lopsidedness – Skewness
Chapter 12: Averages – Central Tendencies
The Bell Curve Controversial
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The Bell Curve Controversial
Parametric statistics builds on the basic concept of the normal distribution or the bell curve, which is fundamental in statistics. This raises questions among academicians on the issue of grading and education standards when it comes to its use in representing student achievement. However, an argument for the "bell curve" traces back to the notion of normal distribution within schools. Carl & Menie (2019) imply that expecting a quartile of students to fall on one's extreme ends is rational. In this regard, it reflects the opinion that academic achievement should have a curve like the normal distribution.
Most criticism is based on assumptions that student achievements fit a normal distribution, not naturally. A deviation in the shape of a student's achievement curve, either towards the left or right, questions whether there was a normal distribution (Newburger et al., 2022). Such deviation could result in an alternative marking scale from the usual bell curve. Nevertheless, whe...