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 · JOUR · MCAS

JOUR 2225

Journalism and New Media · 1 instructor on record · 10 sections

How the curve score is built
75Teaching86 raw · 43rd percentile of BC classes
+2Easiness adjustmenteasiness 83 · 45 raw workload · lighter than 71% of BC classes
77Curve scorethe teaching curve +2 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 71% of BC classes.

What the course score is made of
86BC evaluations10 records · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2021 – Spring 2026
—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
29thMore challenging than 29% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
87BC — “Intellectually Challenging”10 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
29thMore work than 29% of BC classesranked against every one we hold
45BC — “Workload”10 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.

Note to Journalism minors: this course satisfies the requirement for an elective with a craft" orientation." The rise of the internet as a news delivery system has changed the face of the news business, for better or worse, in the 21st century. This one semester seminar will trace the history of new medias relationship with journalism while preparing students for the leaner online world. Students will learn about practical matters (storytelling for the web, condensing complex narratives into 140-character missives) while grappling with larger concerns affecting the industry and readers (traffic-based journalism, slippery sourcing) as they report and write on the world around them.

The only instructor on record

10 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record
InstructorCurveEasinessChallenge
Maura JohnstonUniversity and Capstone7989 raw · 10 records82+1 to the score29th

There is no ranking to read here: Maura Johnston is the only instructor with evaluation records for JOUR 2225, so the number is a record, not a position.

Also taught by Maura Johnston

2 other classes
ClassInstructorsCourse score
JOUR 2226Writing About Popular Music112 records89
JOUR 2268The Cultural Critic Online11 record82

Other JOUR classes

All of them
ClassInstructorsCourse score
JOUR 2000Introduction to Journalism619 records86
JOUR 2226Writing About Popular Music112 records89
JOUR 2223Sports and News Broadcasting110 records86
JOUR 2231Feature Writing210 records94
JOUR 4942Senior Seminar410 records91
JOUR 2238Food Writing19 records92

The line

All 13 items · means across 10 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

10 sections · newest first
InstructorTermSecInstrCourseWork
Maura JohnstonSpring 2026018783—
Maura JohnstonSpring 202501828040
Maura JohnstonFall 202401949740
Maura JohnstonSummer 2024011008060
Maura JohnstonSpring 202401959140
Maura JohnstonFall 2023019389—
Maura JohnstonSpring 202301959440
Maura JohnstonFall 202201918960
Maura JohnstonSpring 202201758040
Maura JohnstonFall 202101807340
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.