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Winnipeg Free Press
11-08-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Stats, graphs and anecdotes – is grade inflation real?
Opinion In Not making the grades (July 25), a graph was presented and interpreted as possibly reflecting grade inflation in Manitoba high schools. This was accompanied or followed (letters, oped, online) by anecdotes of more university students receiving lower grades, of high school students and their parents pressuring teachers for higher marks, and comments related to issues in public education on the premise of grade inflation. Is this all much ado? Based on Manitoba students entering first-year, full-time programs at the University of Manitoba, the graph shows the proportions having a high school average of 95 per cent or more gradually rising from about 15 per cent in Fall 2012 to about 27 per cent in 2019. There was a pandemic-era spike after that, reaching a high of 46 per cent in 2022 and declining to 40 per cent in Fall 2024. The graph uses the common technique of a lopped-off scale — from zero per cent to 50 per cent (rather than zero per cent to 100 per cent). An interpretive caution here is that, intended or not, the technique yields exaggerated depictions of changes and differences. This may leave some more affected than they should be, especially if eager to pounce for expressing beliefs, suppositions and theories about the state of education. The use of ranges for analysis — 70 per cent-74.9 per cent, 75 per cent-79.9 per cent…90 per cent-94.9 per cent, 95 per cent-100 per cent, in this case — is also common. The caution is that even a very small, broad-based shift in the underlying measure (student marks, in this case) can have a large impact on the trend line, not unlike jumping to a higher tax bracket with one dollar more of income. The aforementioned spike in Fall 2020, therefore, is plausibly due in large part to the lack of provincial Grade 12 tests (mathematics; language arts), as pointed out in the article, rather than to waning high school academic standards. It should be noted that the graph does not represent Manitoba high school students in general. Based on information from the University of Manitoba's Office of Institutional Analysis (the Office), each year is based on from 2,750 and 2,950 students, jumping to 3,100 in Fall 2024, in the order of one-third of first year enrollment. This is about a quarter of Manitoba Grade 12 graduating students, and is selectively constrained (student moving directly from high school to university). Inferences about high school grading practices in general may be ill-premised. The article quotes a university teacher's experience of doling out more low grades in the context of students being more poorly prepared at high school. Anecdotes are interesting. They may be true or exaggerated for effect, and they risk being generalized. Before moving to evidence, it should not be casually granted that universities are homes to uniquely and especially reliable measures of student achievement and preparedness, or to steadfastly consistent standards of achievement. Onward. Reports posted by the Office include tabulated percentages of grades given to students — A+, A…D, F — for each school year by faculty and school (over 160,000 grades annually) and in total. They also include average annual grade point averages (GPA; A+ = 4.5,… D = 1.0). From 2012/13 to 2018/19, the average undergraduate GPA was between 2.99 and 3.05. Interestingly, in 2019/20, it jumped to 3.24, peaked at 3.29 in 2020/21, and then settled back to about 3.05, somewhat paralleling the trends in the graph of high school averages. The percentages of undergraduate students achieving an A or A+ showed an overall increasing trend, with a low of 31.3 per cent in 2013/14, highs of 39.5 per cent and 39.0 per cent in 2020/21 and 2021/22, and levelling at 35.3 per cent and 35.7 per cent in the last two years, again somewhat in parallel to other trends. The proportions of students earning a C or D declined, from a high of 14.4 per cent in 2014/15 to as low as 10.8 per cent in 2021/22, finishing at 12.5 per cent and 12.0 per cent in the latest two years. (There is an increase in the rate of Fs, latterly at 7.4 per cent. The pattern over time is somewhat erratic, ranging from 5.3 per cent to 7.5 per cent.) On the face, there is no decline in undergraduate student achievement, and perhaps a small improvement. Reasons other than waning high school academic standards that might explain the trends seen in the graph of high school grades, and other analytical interpretations, are possible and welcome. A research study of systemic grade inflation might be interesting, albeit complex. Meanwhile, there is cause to question, at least, the existence of high school grade inflation as a basis for understanding, comment and analysis. Ken Clark, retired in Winnipeg, spent most of his working life in the field of education, and most of that focused on large-scale student assessment. Data analyses and interpretations are his own.
The Spinoff
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
The Friday Poem: ‘For Dennis' by Josiah Morgan
A new poem by Josiah Morgan. For Dennis I thought for a long time my life too ugly to make beautiful: the older men, the gold coins, the clattering of empty plates, seeking comfort in Oliver!, in The Sound of Music, never questioned that there was darkness in the world, took that as read, like Springsteen, but missed that often ugliness and beauty were the same thing. That changed with After School, Street Football, Eighth Grade, Dennis Cooper, writing about 'one guy / sprawled / fifty feet away, sexy, but he was / dead, blood like lipstick' I didn't even pick up back then that the fifty feet were of poetry as much as distance. Paris, New Zealand, Dennis, Josiah, I was shocked, suddenly I could speak, my wounds didn't look like wounds but monuments or structures. I resisted pain in other people and still do, preferring the monument to the blood, like Dennis, it all rushed out at once, my teenage crush on Rupert Brooke, his handsome face and end-rhyme, and Finnegans Wake, and Nabokov, Pale Fire, that great book about misreading, and the misreading, Wuthering Heights, New Juche, Woolf, O'Hara, Bishop. Wordsworth's Prelude in both its versions on Lincoln Road, reading it over a custard square, sometimes you read poetry and sometimes poetry reads you.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Yahoo
Where are most crimes happening in Myrtle Beach area? These areas have the highest
The amount of crime happening in Horry County has been a top concern of local residents. It's not just crime that is increasing, it's also the boldness of the suspects who commit the crimes. In recent months, law enforcement has dealt with a string of high-profile crimes in Horry County, including a shooting at a Little River boat party, suspects shooting at police during a high-speed chase and three shootings – two that were deadly – on North Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. Data shows that certain areas of Horry County receive a higher number of crimes than other areas. But, in reality, no area has been immune from criminal activity. Horry County Police Chief Kris Leonhardt said that this year is on track to be one of the busiest in the number of incidents for police. Most of it is occurring near permanent residents along the coast with gang activity heightening near inland towns of Aynor and Longs, Leonhardt said. However, an independent crime statistics organization shows that most of the violent crimes are happening in the tourist areas of the county, as well as in the Carolina Forest area. Carolina Forest in the Myrtle Beach area has seen a tremendous population growth, requiring additional schools to be built, roads to be widened and emergency services to build additional fire stations and add more police units to keep up with the influx of crime and growth. Horry County Police is adding a fifth police precinct in the Carolina Forest area to be implemented in August and a new gang police unit which is already in place. During a public safety meeting in June, Leonhardt highlighted a high in calls for service with more than 16,000 received in May. That includes 337 calls for violent crimes, according to Horry County data from a May Public Safety Committee meeting agenda. Calls for service occur when emergency personnel are requested to respond to an emergency situation, such as a 911 call or a directive from a passerby. During the same time last year, police received more than 17,000 calls for service. But Horry County Police also did not have as many deadly or violent incidents as they have this year, the chief said. Where's the most crime? Tourist areas dominate calls for service in Horry County, police data shows. The south precinct encompasses Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach and Socastee, which from 2023 to May 2025 has almost always received the most calls for service out of Horry County Police's four precincts. Leonhardt said the south is the busiest because it's where most permanent residents live. But a more detailed map from Crime Grade shows that most violent crime incidents per capita in Horry County occur in tourist areas where fewer residents live, not in Socastee or other residential areas. Crime Grade rates counties across the country based on machine-learning projection from previous reported data. At the end of each projection, it gives a grade. Myrtle Beach earned a D+ for its overall crime grade. Crime Grade's map shows that more crime occurred in Myrtle Beach in Myrtle Heights, near 21st and 22nd avenues North to Springmaid Beach, and even the Market Common district. That area includes popular tourist destinations like North Ocean Boulevard. However, Crime Grade pointed out that these areas may show high crime in part because of the few permanent residents in the area. 'Areas with high visitor traffic, such as shopping districts, may appear to have higher crime rates simply because more crimes occur where people gather – even if few residents live there,' according to the interpretation from Crime Grade's website. 'The south part of the county has more retail establishments, which can artificially inflate violent crime rates in that area.' It is the same explanation offered by Myrtle Beach city officials and Police Chief Amy Prock, who said that many of the recent violent crimes happening in the city have been committed by people who are not from Horry County. The deadly mass shooting that involved a Myrtle Beach Police officer in April occurred in the 900 block of North Ocean Boulevard and begun after a Marlboro County teenager allegedly fired his weapon into a crowd along a busy sidewalk downtown. Marlboro County, which includes Bennettsville, where the gunman lived, was given an F for crime and the city is shown with a high level of crime, according to Crime Grade's data. Other high violent crime areas in Horry County include Carolina Forest and neighborhoods along S.C. 9 between Loris and Longs where Horry County Police have said gang activity is high. The latest data showed the south precinct had received more than 6,000 calls for service in May. The north precinct, which contains Longs, Little River and North Myrtle Beach, is the fastest growing precinct in the county and where the county's new gang unit focuses much of its efforts, Leonhardt said. It received more than 4,700 calls for service in May. Leonhardt said that Horry County is not necessarily becoming more dangerous, but residents are seeing more crime because of the department's transparency efforts and media coverage. 'We see more bigger crime, so to speak,' Leonhardt said. 'We've always had crime issues. I think we're doing a better job of getting that information out there to our public so we are more transparent showing what is going on in your community. So I think that is great.' Locals commit crime too Myrtle Beach, however, continues to be reported as one of the most dangerous cities in South Carolina, according to previous reporting. It's something that city officials have continually refuted. Police agencies in Horry County reported 19 murders, according to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division's most recent crime report in 2023. That number is greater than almost all other police agencies in the state, though the murder rate per capita is lower than other counties such as Marlboro, Florence and Marion counties, the report showed. Leonhardt said that despite skepticism that most crimes come from people from outside the Myrtle Beach area, it's more complicated than placing most blame on non-residents. Many permanent residents commit crime in Horry County too, he said. More than 17 million people visit the Myrtle Beach area every year according to Visit Myrtle Beach. 'We have a mixture really because we are such a destination area,' Leonhardt said. 'So you'll see some of what I call 'transient crime' come here, they'll look for opportunities, if they find those, they exploit them, then they leave.' HCPD's strategy To deal with the influx of people in Horry County, the department will implement a fifth police precinct in the Carolina Forest area by Aug. 26. The department has also filled around 50 positions in two years which is unprecedented for other departments in the area, HCPD Public Information Officer Mikayla Moskov said. Myrtle Beach Police has previously said it has a shortage of 50 officers. 'We always keep track of our statistics,' Leonhardt said. 'Growth really drove the desire to start a new precinct and to be able to provide better services.' Horry County's population has grown by more than 60,000 people or 17.1% from 2020 to 2024, according to the U.S. Census. Leonhardt said the department's main safety strategy is deterrence through visibility. 'Being that visible deterrent is a huge first step,' Leonhardt said. 'But on the backside of that, it goes to growing those specialty units that can focus on special crimes. We've grown our traffic team, we've grown our street crimes team, our narcotics team, the implementation of the new gang unit has helped, I think it's a fine combination of all that is making a difference to make our community safer really.' Leonhardt has been working with HCPD since 2002, and has lived in the county since he was 6 or 7 years old, he said. Despite many of the crimes residents are seeing around the area, he couldn't pick a place he wouldn't live in. 'I live in Little River. I've lived there my whole life. I don't plan on going anywhere,' Leonhardt said. 'I love it. It's just my area, and so I think to say one area I couldn't do it, because it's all unique and it brings its own special flavor.'
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Baxter appoints Andrew Hider as CEO
This story was originally published on MedTech Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily MedTech Dive newsletter. Name: Andrew Hider New role: CEO, Baxter Previous role: CEO, ATS Corporation Baxter has appointed Andrew Hider as president and CEO, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of José Almeida in February. Hider is currently CEO of the automation company ATS Corporation. ATS works across a wide range of industries, with life sciences being the largest of many end markets. Baxter drew parallels between the businesses because ATS is 'a global, diversified, customer-centric company with a broad scale and range of capabilities.' ATS has more than 65 manufacturing facilities. Baxter CFO Joel Grade discussed what the company was looking for in a CEO at a Goldman Sachs event in June. Grade said the target profile of the CEO would reflect Baxter's focus on its growth rate. 'We're looking to accelerate growth over what we have had historically. We talked about this 4% to 5% growth target, and that obviously is going to come in part from innovation and from the opportunity to drive R&D investment in those areas that are going to drive growth,' Grade said. 'I think that's certainly part of the profile.' Acquisitions, 'in a fold-in, tuck-in way,' form part of Baxter's growth plans, Grade said. Hider oversaw a series of tuck-in acquisitions as CEO of ATS. Deals such as the $195 million takeover of Avidity Science and the acquisition of Paxiom for $146 million Canadian dollars, plus a string of smaller buyouts, helped drive revenue growth at ATS under Hider's leadership. Hider is set to start as CEO of Baxter by Sept. 3. The timing of the executive's departure from ATS is yet to be finalized. Hider is expected to leave ATS by the end of August on a date still to be determined by the company's board of directors. Almeida is scheduled to stay on with the company in an advisory role until Oct. 31. Recommended Reading Baxter CEO José Almeida retires Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
USA Today
30-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Is Leonard Williams Underrated? Low NFL Top 100 spot met with criticism
If there are 98 players in the NFL better than Leonard Williams, I've got some prime real estate to sell you on Mars. Leonard Williams' inclusion at No. 99 on the NFL's Top 100 List was a well-deserved piece of recognition for one of the Seahawks' best players- especially considering only 8 defensive tackles made the list in 2024, as compared with 20 wide receivers. However, the placement at #99 has been met with criticism from members of the media who think he's still underappreciated. Corbin K. Smith prompted the discussion Monday morning: Sami ON Tap shared a similar sentiment and provided context Williams' rankings in the past: I love that Leonard Williams made the NFL Top 100.#99 lands at #99.I really thought he would be higher than has been higher when he was on the Giants, and this was his first time making it on the Seahawks..2021: #842022: #972023: N/A2024: N/A2025: #99 By the numbers, their point is valid. PFF's analytics say this was the best season of Williams' career by a sizable margin, with his 87.1 DEF grade in 2025 followed by only one other season above 80 in 2016 (81.4). He made the Pro Bowl both years, but also received NFL Defensive Player of the Year votes this season. It will be interesting to see if players who finished below him in DPOY voting place above him on the Top 100. Williams posted elite numbers compared to other interior defensive linemen last season. He tied for 2nd with 11 sacks, ranked 4th with 15 QB hits, and tied for 9th with 54 pressures. While his 2020 season with the New York Giants earned him the No. 84 spot on 2021's list with similar stats, two differences stick out that he should get more credit for in 2025- he was forced into a much more versatile role and had one of the best plays of the season doing role was more interior-based in 2025. Even though he recorded a career high in sacks in 2020, it's easier to get half a sack more playing a true defensive end; making his 2025 sack total more impressive. He also spent 16 snaps in coverage, an absolute anomaly for a human weighing 302 pounds, and produced a truly magical moment for Seattle against his former the New York Jets 21-6 in the 2nd quarter, Williams recorded a 92-yd pick six which sparked Seattle to a 20 unanswered-point, comeback win. It is one of the best examples of a dominant play by an individual player in recent NFL memory and is typically a scenario reserved for high school and college defensive lineman prospects who are leagues above their fact that Williams' made a high school highlight happen in an NFL Game shows both his uniqueness and quality at his position. While the NFL agrees he belongs on the Top 100 this year, many wonder what he would have to do to be a top 80 player that he hasn't precedent is unclear. He already ranks 4th in PFF DEF Grade for DIs, so it's hard to see him gaining ground without being outright the best DT in the league. However, it is a player vote, so it's unlikely they're obsessing over PFF Grades and stats. They typically put more stock into who they've played with and Leonard Williams' placement on the NFL Top 100 might be low, he's finally getting discussed. The recognition is great to see, but it's even better that it caused enough controversy to highlight him in conversations.
