Carney Curve

Boston College course evaluations · Fall 2021 through Spring 2026, ranked class by class

How this list is ordered

Positions account for how many records stand behind each number, so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them. Every score shown is the real average — only the ordering is adjusted.

Class record · ADCJ · ADV

ADCJ 3051

American Institutions · 1 instructor on record · 5 sections

How the curve score is built
78Teaching88 raw · 53rd percentile of BC classes
+1Easiness adjustmenteasiness 82 · 48 raw workload · lighter than 67% of BC classes
79Curve scorethe teaching curve +1 for the workload · at most ±6 either way

Boston College's ratings are bunched at the top — the median instructor averages about 88 out of 100 on the raw scale, and 44% of them clear 90 — so a raw score cannot separate anybody. Every figure here is ranked against BC classes and that rank is re-expressed out of 100, which is what turns a raw 88 — the middle of the university — into a figure that says where somebody actually stands. On this scale 77 is the median, 84 the top quarter and 91 the top tenth. Workload is then an adjustment on top of that, worth nothing at all for an ordinary one. Lighter work than 67% of BC classes.

What the course score is made of
88BC evaluations5 records · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2022 – Fall 2025
—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute
—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

The class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it — who taught it is the board below.

How is this worked out?

That is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between: the board carries each instructor's own score for this class, and the score above is the class averaged across all of them.

What the challenge rank is made of
52ndMore challenging than 52% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
91BC — “Intellectually Challenging”5 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question. It is not a measure of difficulty, grading or workload.

How is this worked out?

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of
33rdMore work than 33% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
48BC — “Workload”5 records · raw score out of 100

One of Boston College's five workload bands, not a number of hours. Higher means more work, not worse.

How is this worked out?

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

The word institution has many meanings. In sociology, it means a large-scale arrangement created and maintained to serve the needs of society. The criminal justice system is one example. Another is marriage. In political science, institutions are the organizations that generate economic and social policy and mediate conflicts. The courts are an example; trade unions are another. In history, institutions are what shaped political, economic, and social outcomes in the past. One example is slavery. Another is the civil rights movement. This course uses these different yet often overlapping meanings of institutions to examine the American experience. In many cases the American experience is a shared one, yet in many cases the experiences of particular groups of people are distinctly different from those of others. Some Americans had to fight for their freedom. Some had to fight to be recognized as U.S. citizens. Women had to fight to be able to vote and to enter into contracts without their husbands permission. Some Americans had to fight to marry a person of another race or of the same gender. Others had to fight for a living wage. Some Americans accused of crimes had to fight to ensure that their rights were protected. Many of these fights occurred in courtrooms. This course uses summaries of important court decisions that were both shaped by, and helped to shape, the American institutions we have today. It also uses writings and speeches by individuals whose efforts made them key figures in their respective movements.

The only instructor on record

5 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record
InstructorCurveEasinessChallenge
Peyton PaxsonAdvancing Studies8191 raw · 5 records80+1 to the score52nd

There is no ranking to read here: Peyton Paxson is the only instructor with evaluation records for ADCJ 3051, so the number is a record, not a position.

Also taught by Peyton Paxson

4 other classes
ClassInstructorsCourse score
ADCJ 3010Criminal Law and Procedure34 records83
ADCO 1020Survey of Mass Communication24 records87
ADCJ 2101Corrections: Policies and Practices11 record79
ADCJ 4100Corrections: Policies and Practices11 record97

Other ADCJ classes

All of them
ClassInstructorsCourse score
ADCJ 2001Crime and Punishment15 records95
ADCJ 1101Principles of Criminal Justice24 records87
ADCJ 3010Criminal Law and Procedure34 records83
ADCJ 1100Introduction to Social Justice13 records84
ADCJ 2000Criminology12 records93
ADCJ 2110Perspectives and Concepts of the Juvenile Justice System12 records77

The line

All 13 items · means across 5 records
Instructor4
Course3
Feedback3
Workload & Challengenot ratings

Bars are ranks, not raw scores. Nothing here is graded good or bad.

What each item asks
Explains Clearly
The instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.
Available
The instructor was available for help outside of class.
Motivating
The instructor motivated me to do my best work.
Sparks Interest
The course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.
Organized
The course was well organized.
Clear Goals
The learning objectives for the course were clear.
Useful Later
What I learned is applicable beyond this course.
Assignments
Assignments and exams contributed to my learning.
Fast Feedback
I received feedback on my work in a timely manner.
Useful Feedback
The feedback I received on my work was meaningful.
Workload
How much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.
Challenge
The course was intellectually challenging.
Attendance
Attending class was necessary to do well in this course.
Why these numbers are curved

Both the number and the bar are the rank against every comparable record we hold, printed back out of 100. BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so on the raw scale every cell here would read in the high eighties and every bar would be nearly full — thirteen numbers that tell you nothing. Each cell prints its raw BC figure and its percentile underneath, so nothing is hidden by the transform. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

5 sections · newest first
InstructorTermSecInstrCourseWork
Peyton PaxsonFall 202501868240
Peyton PaxsonSpring 202501929440
Peyton PaxsonSpring 202401939360
Peyton PaxsonFall 202301888340
Peyton PaxsonFall 202201948860
How to read this board

Instructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.