Western’s students have been given the opportunity to voice their opinion about a plus/minus grading scale policy.
A mass e-mail was sent out to students by the University’s Academic Quality Committee on Feb. 4 asking them to give their suggestions, comments and concerns about the plus/minus grading system proposal.
The proposal, if passed, would affect students beginning with the incoming freshman class of fall 2008. Students already enrolled at Western would have the option of switching to the system.
The policy would weight letter grades based on the addition of a plus or a minus. For example, a B- would correlate with a 2.7 GPA, and a B+ would correlate with a 3.3 GPA.
The plus/minus system would not include an A+, D+, D- or F+.
The proposal was passed by the University Senate last year but was rejected by Provost Barbara Burch at the last session of the University Senate in spring 2007.
The senate might not revisit the plus/minus proposal this semester, said Anthony Harkins, chairman of the Academic Quality Committee. If it does, it will happen in March.
The Academic Quality Committee is trying to gather enough information and opinions about plus/minus in order to determine whether plus/minus will be beneficial, Harkins said.
Student Government Association President Jeanne Johnson said “I have no doubt in my mind that most students would be against it.”
Burch said she’s hopeful that whatever comes out of the Academic Quality Committee’s recommendations will be thorough, and will be good for the campus, the faculty and the students.
The survey about plus/minus was previously sent out to faculty and staff.
By press time, 162 faculty and staff members had completed the survey.
Feb. 15 is the last day to complete it.
Johnson reported to the SGA on Tuesday that 41.9 percent of the faculty who commented on the survey were in favor of plus/minus and 41.9 percent were against it.
The remainder either stated a question or suggested amendments to the proposal.
Johnson said she liked that the latest survey gave the faculty more freedom than a multiple choice survey would.
The results of the faculty and staff survey will not be compiled in any statistical way, said Harkins. The Academic Quality Committee wanted to get a range of opinions on how and if they should proceed with plus/minus.
Western’s staff completed multiple choice surveys concerning the plus/minus system in spring 2005 and fall 2006.
The Academic Quality Committee plans to use the opinions given through the survey in their decision making process over the next several weeks, Harkins stated.
The committee will meet with the SGA, the Provost, the graduate studies office and the Registrar’s office in the coming weeks to further discuss the plus/minus system.
Reach Danielle Bullock at news@chherald.com.
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