Time: 60 min

Objectives

Explain why instructor grading variance is the central standardization risk; conduct a calibration session; interpret variance data as a program-health metric.

The problem

Two instructors watch the same landing. One grades Q, one grades F. Both are sincere. Multiply by a year of evaluations and “qualified” has quietly become two different standards. Customers and auditors will eventually find the seam.

The calibration mechanism

• Quarterly calibration session: all instructors grade the same recorded (or jointly observed) flight against the grading standard, independently, then compare.
• Where grades diverge, the group resolves the divergence by reference to the written standard — and if the standard was ambiguous, the standard gets fixed. Calibration debugs the document as much as the instructors.
• Grading variance per task is tracked over time. Falling variance = standardization working. A task with chronically high variance has a badly written standard.

The instructor’s discipline

Grade against the standard, not against your students, your mood, or your memory of how you flew it. The written standard is the only defensible reference in a dispute, an audit, or an accident investigation.