This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
Tanque Cortador
compensar derechos

Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

Prom. Sec.

English translation:

Promedio de la Sección: Average for the Section

Added to glossary by MollyRose
Jun 4, 2018 16:31
5 yrs ago
25 viewers *
Spanish term

Prom. Sec.

Spanish to English Other Education / Pedagogy On a transcript from Venezuela
This appears to be a transcript of the first trimester for a student in her 11th year of school in Venezuela.
Nivel: Educación Media. Curso: 5º año "B" (Term: 5th year "B") translation ok?
Número: 01 Fecha de entrega: 15/12/2017

PRIMER LAPSO (First trimester) translation ok?

Headings:
Áreas de formación
Evaluación primer lapso
Cualitativa
Definit.
Inas. (I found this is inasistencia, thanks to a previous Proz question!)
Prom. Sec. *****
Resumen de evaluación
Primer lapso
Segundo lapso
Tercer lapso
Nota promedio (same numbers in the column as in primer lapso)

Is it promedio secundario (starting in 9th grade?)? What does it mean? I don't think they use "escuela secundaria" in Venezuela; that's why I doubt it means average for secondary. The numbers (grades) in this column are close but not all the same as in the Primer lapso column.
Proposed translations (English)
2 +3 Promedio Sección - Academic Standing

Discussion

MollyRose (asker) Jun 6, 2018:
numbers in the columns For those who still want to see the numbers:

Evaluación Primer Lapso, Definit.: 16 20 13 18 13 13
17 19 18 19
Prom. Sec.: 15 19 15 18 15 15 17 19 18 17
MollyRose (asker) Jun 6, 2018:
OK When I started leaning toward rank, I was thinking of high numbers as high rank, but you're right: high numbers are actually lower rank (1 being the highest rank). I think, really, that Helena's post about section average showing how well the teacher does is great. Why not have a high grade average for all the students? It looks like we are all coming to the same conclusion now. Thanks, everyone, for all your input and the time it has taken you. I appreciate it.

Christian [email protected] Jun 5, 2018:
did I confuse things? It is indeed "class/section average", not a ranking. In Venezuela grades (marks) go from zero to 20. 10 points is passing. An average of 19 is GREAT.
Charles Davis Jun 5, 2018:
Here are two grade sheets (from universities, not schools) which give the "promedio sección" for a series of assessments. As you can see, they are the averages of the grades awarded to all students in that assessment:

http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/ingenieria/djean/index_archivos...
http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/ingenieria/djean/index_archivos...

Note also that some of these averages are very high. In one case every student got 20 and the average is 20.0.

On the other hand, if the figures are 15, 19, 15, 18, 15... and are averages, it is odd that they are whole numbers; you would expect decimals. Unless they've been rounded to whole numbers...

Quite honestly, I think the only thing you can do here is translate it literally as "section average" (or "class average" if you prefer).
Helena Chavarria Jun 5, 2018:
I don't know if this helps DISCUSIÓN Y CONCLUSIONES
A partir de los análisis estadísticos de las pruebas t para muestras independientes, anova y regresión lineal, desde las cuales se estudió como variables género, categoría académica, nivel académico y promedio de la sección, se establece la incidencia o la explicación del desempeño docente en el aula en el PAENA 2004. A partir de los análisis, se encontró que la variable independiente promedio de la sección, definida con el índice promedio de calificaciones obtenidas por el estudiante hasta el momento de la investigación, explica el promedio del profesor en función de su desempeño en el aula, tanto en los procesos pedagógicos como en las relaciones interpersonales.

http://revistas.upel.edu.ve/index.php/educare/article/viewFi...
Helena Chavarria Jun 5, 2018:
According to the first reference in my answer it means 'section average'

51. 46 Teniendo en cuenta que, la sección con el rendimiento escolar mas bajo es la sección “C” y calculando la media aritmética del promedio de las otras secciones “A, B, D y E”, se pudo determinar que el rendimiento de la sección “C” sigue siendo el menor.

I hadn't realised that the grades range from 0 to 20.
Charles Davis Jun 5, 2018:
May I also point out that in Helena's first reference, which I believe is the only Venezuelan source cited here that actually defines "promedio de la sección" in a school context, it quite definitely means the average of the grades awarded to the students in a "sección":

"se decidió tomar el promedio de calificación por sección del segundo lapso de los estudiantes de segundo año de la Unidad Educativa Anzoátegui, teniendo los siguientes: Secciones Promedio de la sección A 14,69 B 13,26 C 13,24 D 14,83 E 13,37"
https://es.slideshare.net/aeblancop/trabajo-final-andres (slide 50).
Helena Chavarria Jun 5, 2018:
@MollyRose You are the only person looking at the original document, so I suppose you need to rely on your instinct. My experience with transcripts is limited, as I don't translate them.
Charles Davis Jun 5, 2018:
Sorry to harp on this, but how on earth can "promedio sección" mean "class rank"? What is "promedio" supposed to mean in that case? And with all due respect to Christian's personal experience, what exactly is his argument? That "prom. sec." must mean class rank because when he was studying in Venezuela he had a class rank?

If, despite this, you believe that the figures under "prom. sec." are ranks, you might look to see what grade the student achieved for the subject for which (according to this theory) he/she was ranked 19th, for example, bearing in mind that your hypothesis would mean that 18 students achieved a higher grade for that subject.

If this student achieved grades of 13-20, he/she is a good student. Aren't rankings of between 15th and 19th rather low in that case?

Do any other numbers appear in the Prom. Sec. column? If so, what are they?
MollyRose (asker) Jun 5, 2018:
addendum One reason for the confusion was that the grades and the numbers under Prom. Sec. were similar. Grades between 13 and 20, and in the other column 15-19. That's why I thought the numbers in Prom. Sec. were grades, too. But I see now that they don't have to be.
MollyRose (asker) Jun 5, 2018:
rank vs. average Thinking about it some more, I suppose it could be rank. That probably makes more sense than the section average being 19 out of a total of 20 points, for instance. And if there are only about 25 per section, these numbers could work! Thanks, Helena. I was the one who was confused. So "section rank" seems to be it, with a note explaining what Christian said.
Helena Chavarria Jun 5, 2018:
@MollyRose I'm getting confused :-(

Why can't it be class rank? There might be 25 students in the section (group) and the numbers could mean 15th, 19th, 15th, 18th, 15th... Someone has to be at the top of the class and someone else has to be at the bottom. Or am I missing something?
MollyRose (asker) Jun 5, 2018:
to Christian So, do you think it would be safe to say "average of the students in the section" or "average of section B"? The second line says "Curso: 5º año 'B.'" It can't be class ranking because the numbers in the columns are 15, 19, 15, 18, 15 ...
Charles Davis Jun 5, 2018:
@Helena No, it doesn't, though I think it helps us to deduce what it means. But by showing us an actual Venezuelan school report that includes "promedio sección", it makes it virtually certain, in my view, that your interpretation of "prom. sec." as "promedio sección" is correct, so that's helpful.
Helena Chavarria Jun 5, 2018:
@Charles I also found the question about 'consejo curso' but didn't include it with my answer because it doesn't actually explain what 'promedio de la sección' means.
Helena Chavarria Jun 5, 2018:
As regards the previous question I included in my answer, I was so worried that someone would complain about me using someone else's question to answer that I didn't read it properly.

Re 'promedio sección', I think the information provided by Christian and Charles is pretty convincing.

I was recently given some of my old school reports (from the UK) and the pages are divided into four columns: name of subject, exam mark in a percentage, my position in the class (1st, 2nd, 3rd... 25th) and comments.
Charles Davis Jun 5, 2018:
I had forgotten that the school report in that previous question I've just cited included "promedio sección", which makes me much more confident that this is what "prom. sec." stands for:

"Definitiva lapso 1 (nota definitiva del primer lapso o primer trimestre)
Promedio sección"
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish_to_english/education_peda...

This must surely mean

"[Student's] definitive grade for Term 1
Average grade for [all students in] the section".
Charles Davis Jun 5, 2018:
Lapso Lapso does mean term/trimester. And I think curso means level. See:
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish_to_english/education_peda...
Charles Davis Jun 5, 2018:
(Continued) If "prom. sec." is an ellipsis for "situación del alumno con respecto al promedio de la sección", then yes, it means class ranking/academic standing. I can't prove it doesn't, but I see no good reason to assume it does.

What I can say for certain, from personal experience, is that French school reports give the average grade for the class in each subject, as well as overall, so that parents can compare their children's performance with it and see whether they are above or below average for their class, and by how much. So I would at least claim that the average grade for the section, per subject or overall, is a useful piece of information.

If we had an online example from Venezuela that included "prom. sec." and explained what it means, we could be certain, but failing that I think we can only translate it as "class average", or something like that, and add a note explaining that this assumes "prom. sec." stands for "promedio de la sección".
Charles Davis Jun 5, 2018:
promedio [de la] sección If prom. and sec. stand for promedio and sección (which is not certain but seems plausible to me), and "promedio sección" means "promedio de la sección" (which I think it must), then what can "promedio de la sección" mean?

I have no first-hand knowledge of what data Venezuelan schools normally include in their reports. It's not necessarily the same in every school, and it's not necessarily the same as it was in the past. Perhaps they do commonly include the student's class ranking. But on purely linguistic grounds I can't see how "promedio de la sección" can mean that.

I am sure that "sección" means what Christian has said: a class or group of students within an overall year group. There are Venezuelan references that confirm that meaning.

In the question Helena cited, "academic standing" (meaning ranking, I think) was given as a translation not of "promedio de la sección" but of "situación del alumno con respecto al promedio de la sección": that is, the student's position relative to the class average. So "promedio de la sección" means the class average, that is the average grade for the class.
Christian [email protected] Jun 5, 2018:
Continued... To continue my comment below: In my school, they did not list the average grade of the boys in my class (Sección B), but they did point out our ranking. My father loved it when I was #1 or #2. Feel sorry for #39 and #40....

Proposed translations

+3
1 hr
Selected

Promedio Sección - Academic Standing

https://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish_to_english/education_peda...

51. 46 Teniendo en cuenta que, la sección con el rendimiento escolar mas bajo es la sección “C” y calculando la media aritmética del promedio de las otras secciones “A, B, D y E”, se pudo determinar que el rendimiento de la sección “C” sigue siendo el menor. La media aritmética del promedio de las secciones “A, B, D y E”. 𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 = ∑ 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑜 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑐𝑖ó𝑛 𝑁ú𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑑𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 = 14,69+13,26+14,83+13,37 4 = 14,04 Ec. (1) 𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 𝐴,𝐵,𝐷,𝐸 = 14,04 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑜 𝑆𝑒𝑐 "𝐶" = 13,24 < 𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 𝐴𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑚é𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑆𝑒𝑐 "𝐴,𝐵,𝐷,𝐸" = 14,04

https://es.slideshare.net/aeblancop/trabajo-final-andres

Academic Standing
What does it mean to be in “good academic standing”? What does it mean to be “subject to disqualification”?

When a student’s cumulative (overall) and current (most recent term) grade point averages are 2.0 or better, that student is in good academic standing. If either the cumulative or current G.P.A. falls below 2.0, the student is on academic probation.

A student whose current (term) G.P.A. falls below 1.5 in any term, or a student whose cumulative G.P.A. is below 2.0 after having been on probation the quarter before, falls subject to disqualification. Being subject to disqualification means that because of a low G.P.A., a student’s academic record must be reviewed by their College’s Academic Standing Committee, which determines whether the student will be permitted to continue enrollment at UCSC. Students who are not permitted to continue their enrollment are barred or disqualified.

https://advising.ucsc.edu/success/standing.html

I'm sure it means 'Promedio de la Sección' but I'm not 100% sure of the translation.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2018-06-04 17:59:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Cursos, secciones y promedio de estudiantes por sección a nivel subgraduado en el Recinto de Río Piedras

Primer semestre 1995-96 al 2002-03

http://opep.uprrp.edu/prevopa/RRPFACTBOOK/FACTBOOK20022003/R...

According to Linguee (though it appears to be a different sort of section):

La cantidad promedio de alumnos por sección era de 28.2 y la cantidad promedio de alumnos por docente era 21 alumnos.
unesdoc.unesco.org

There was an average of 28.2 pupils per section and 21 pupils per teacher.

https://www.linguee.com/spanish-english/translation/sección ...

I hope I've managed to point you in the right direction.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2018-06-04 18:38:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In the previous question I've posted, someone suggested '(student's) class percentile rank/ranking, which I prefer, even though only one person agreed with it.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2018-06-04 18:43:23 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Have you heard of class rank but aren’t sure what it is? Maybe you want to know why class rank is important or how you can figure out what a good class rank is. And, by the way, what is a good class rank?

We have answers to all these questions! Read on to learn what class rank is, how schools calculate it, and how it’s important for your future.

https://blog.prepscholar.com/what-is-class-rank-why-is-it-im...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2018-06-04 18:47:46 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I'm sorry MollyRose but I really don't know the right translation and I ought to get back to my own work. Hopefully someone will come along and clear up our doubts!
Note from asker:
Thanks, Helena. So would a sección be a group of students? The same as a graduating class (promoción)? I'm thinking "Class rank" would work if this is the case.
Or could the section be referring to the "B" at the top of the page (Curso: 5º año "B")?
... or to the particular class(room) for each of the subjects taken?
That's ok, Helena. I was really asking these questions for anyone who would read them and might have the answers. Thank you very much; your answers, quotes, and comments have all been very helpful. I'm thinking now that it is the average for all the students in the section (whatever that is), as Charles Davis said. I'm waiting to see if there's any expert out there to confirm.
Peer comment(s):
agree Charles Davis : I agree that it probably stands for "promedio de la sección", but this doesn't mean academic standing; it means the average mark/grade for all students in the section (i.e., class or group). So "section average" (or "class/group average").
50 mins
Charles, thank you for your much appreciated help (and the 'agree')!
agree JohnMcDove : :-)
2 hrs
Thank you, John :-)
agree Christian [email protected] : I studied High School (and University) in Venezuela. In High School, there were 200 of us per grade, grouped into five "sections" of 40. I was in "Sección B", not better or worse than "A" or "E".
8 hrs
Christian, thank you for the information - and for your agreement :-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "I wish I could do something for you all, but I can´t. The Lord can, however, so I pray that He bless you all extra for your help, and I expect He will."
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search