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Grading gets evaluated
Plus/minus policy considered again
By Josie Klemaier
jklemaie@mscd.edu

Metro’s current student handbook states that a plus/minus grading policy will be implemented by fall 2007, but the date is now being pushed back due to administrative review of the policy.

Metro President Stephen Jordan has assigned a committee, chaired by newly appointed Provost Rodolfo Rocha, to review the policy further after concerns about its implementation, according to Metro spokeswoman Cathy Lucas.

“(Dr. Jordan’s) problem was that it was not mandatory,” Lucas said.

Rocha declined to comment on the progress of the committee.

“The academic side from top to bottom had problems with it,” said Metro’s registrar, Jeff Johnson. “Implementation has now been put off indefinitely.”

The plus/minus grading system would allow professors to assign a plus or minus to a letter grade, thus changing the point value of that grade.

The possibility of the system’s implementation has been on the Faculty Senate’s agenda most recently since fall 2005, but has been a concern at Metro the past several years.

The concept was first brought to the faculty in 1998 and again in 2004, and each time it was pushed back to a later date due to lack of faculty interest. In fall 2005, at the Oct. 19 meeting, plus/minus grading was presented to the faculty along with information concerning its history and with arguments for and against.

Arguments for the policy included the view that it would allow for a more accurate form of assessment, curbing grade inflation and grade contesting from students. The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers encourages the use of the system.

Arguments against the policy included that it would force professors to pigeonhole students into smaller categories, would not accurately assess the students’ performance, would increase grade appeals and would not provide precision in grading.

The grade for academic probation could possibly change from a D to a C-, affecting students who seek financial aid and athletes, who must receive a 2.0 GPA or higher to qualify.

Assistant athletic director Jennifer Fraser said a plus/minus grading system would not change the NCAA requirement of a 2.0 GPA for athletes. She said the athletics department supports the system “if it’s going to better the institution as a whole.”

Student Government Assembly President Jack Wylie, who is a student member on the new committee, said he thinks a plus/minus grading system would be beneficial. So far all decisions made have left it up to the professor whether they want to assign plus or minus grades.

“There is a high amount of inequity,” Wylie said. “It leaves a lot to the professor. It needs to be mandatory.”

The SGA gave their approval of such a policy in March 2006. Wylie said they were asked what they think of the concept, but not about how it would be implemented.

“I imagine the SGA as a whole would support it if it was implemented in the right way,” he said. “We were just asked to make a yes or no stance on it. We weren’t asked if it should be mandatory. It makes me wonder if it has all been done properly.”

Wylie said regardless of if the plus/minus grading passes, the current grading policy needs improvement.

“The policy is very open. Professors are not required to make 90 percent an A,” he said.

With a mandatory plus/minus system, students can receive unequally weighted letter grades.

A student in one class with a professor who does not give a plus or minus could get a B with, for example, an 89 percent, but only receive the respective grade points, while a student with the same grade in a class whose professor gives a plus or minus would get the additional points a B+ is worth.

“The chance of passing a course depends entirely on the faculty,” Wylie said.