Tweet

Recently, Grand View University has been discussing the possibility of switching to a plus-minus grading system.

We are currently using a whole-letter grading system. English professor Joshua Call said that Grand View is one of the few colleges in the state that still uses this system. 

In a study done by Northern Arizona University’s College of Business professors about the Student and Faculty Views of Plus-Minus Grading Systems, 55.2 percent of their students were opposed to a plus-minus grading system, while only 30.7 percent of teachers were opposed to it.

In a survey conducted by the Viking Council, 56 percent of Grand View students are opposed to this similar grading shift. Other students, like applied mathematics sophomore Kailye Hromatko believes that the change may improve students’ work ethic.

“Changing to a plus-minus system would be a good thing because it pushes kids more since they have to try harder to get an A,” Hromatko said.

According to Call, the main issue with our current whole-letter system is the risk that it does not accurately capture where Grand View students are placing in relation to one another.

Imagine that you are sitting in class, you have studied hard and prepared for a week. You receive a 88.9. and you get a B. The person next to you barely studied, cramming at the last minute and gets a 81. They also receive a B. You two have now received the same grade. How fair is it that you two would receive the same grade for distinctly different levels of effort?

Viking Council President, Kendall Antle, has also shared two proposals that Viking Council has been working on to ease doubts about the changes.

The proposals are additional changes that would be seen in classrooms to help more fairly measure student performances far before the new grading system would be implemented.

The first proposal would set each section of a class at the same amount of points. For example, each section of BIOL 101 will have the exact same total points from the beginning to the end of the course.

Antle said that when one student has seven chapters to study for a 100-point final exam and another has eight chapters to study for a 50-point exam, the distribution of points is unfair to certain students.

The second proposal crafted by Viking Council would encourage department chairs to submit an identical grading rubric system for each individual course.

Professors would be asked to give effective and descriptive feedback for each assignment.

When grading, professors would be asked to indicate where the student excelled and faltered, so when the next assignment rolls around, the student can look and see the difference between the grade they earned and the grade they want to make changes accordingly.

A potential roadblock with this proposal is that not every class is measured in the same way. Whereas biology or mathematics courses tend to have more objective answers; English classes are measured by quality of writing, which does not have a right or wrong answer.

Before any formal changes are made final, both students and faculty will continue to meet to talk through the details together.

Change or no change, the most imperative aspect of the situation is that it is “important to hear the student voice on issues like this,” Grand View University provost Carl Moses said.