Spring 2027

Racial Ethnic Families in the U.s.

Examines diversity of family life and human development across racial ethnic groups in the U.S., focusing on race, culture, biculturalism, and social contexts like history and immigration.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Polina Levchenko2.7/5

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Polina Levchenko

Grading was slow, and assignments were often posted close to due dates. An in-class assignment worth most of the grade occurred every session, making the workload difficult for those with jobs.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
HDFS 474

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.00/5 from 25 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 2.3/5 raw quality · 2.0/5 difficulty · 8 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Polina Levchenko

Polina Levchenko assigned heavy readings but focused on in-depth thinking. She was available and gave extensions, while students found group discussions manageable and the workload doable.

Other students found the syllabus confusing due to changing due dates. One noted that in-class assignments comprised most of the grade, while another reported that material was posted less than 24 hours before it was needed. They described the class as tedious but easy for those who attended.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.74 GPA, 88.5% A/AB (n=78 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.79 GPA, 92.3% A/AB (n=39 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.38 GPA, 74.4% A/AB (n=39 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Lauren Lewis

Lauren Lewis taught a lecture-heavy course with weekly discussion activities that significantly impacted grades. Students noted that papers were graded strictly with clear expectations, while online quizzes could be tricky. One review described her teaching as promoting long-term retention and highlighted her caring, personable approach to students.

DONDIENEITA FLEARY-SIMMONS is recorded teaching in Spring 2012. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LAUREN LEWIS is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

POLINA LEVCHENKO is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

STACY RIERSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Spring 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 400

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Polina Levchenko

Students described the course as easy to pass but tedious and boring. Some found the topic interesting, while others felt the class was a waste of time.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.74 GPA, 88.5% A/AB (n=78 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.79 GPA, 92.3% A/AB (n=39 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.38 GPA, 74.4% A/AB (n=39 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Polina Levchenko

Grading was slow, and assignments were often posted close to due dates. An in-class assignment worth most of the grade occurred every session, making the workload difficult for those with jobs.

Past student reviews · Polina Levchenko

Opinions on Levchenko varied significantly; some found her supportive and available, while others criticized unclear instructions and minimal feedback. Group work increased during online transitions.

Topics

  • Family life and human development diversity
  • Race, ethnicity, culture, and biculturalism
  • Social contexts including history, economics, and immigration

Skills

  • Examine family life and human development through lenses of race, ethnicity, culture, and social context.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

7 earlier forecasts · 0.13 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
HDFS 474 · Spring 2027

Racial Ethnic Families in the U.S.

Recorded 2026-10-29
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261029T213040-0fa85c20",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:230:002915",
    "course_id": "HDFS 474",
    "course_uid": "course_0dbc849ae691e66884d6c49d",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "002915",
    "source_subject_id": "230",
    "title": "Racial Ethnic Families in the U.S.",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-29

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "eaa04f5dab086a7f819a79da1a2fa44a4141317f3ad7514f59f23e069d195dbe",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "c9cd06eaa45f9ddf7e69faa38b89ff3d3dd995dd",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-29 21:30:40.248904+00:00"
}