Grading Scale Task Force Information Sheet – For OU
Chairs and Directors
Distributed
October 18, 2006
This fall, under the auspices of the Faculty Senate and the
Provost’s office, a new Task Force is considering whether OU should change our
grading scale. Our current system – the regular A, B, C, D, F system – is
now used at a minority of other major universities. The more popular
system is the plus/minus grading scale, which has a number of different slight
variants off the typical A, A-, B+, B, B-, … scale. The OU Grading Scale
task force is hoping to provide a recommendation to the Faculty Senate by early
2007. As part of this effort, we are asking Chairs and Directors to
devote a part of a faculty meeting – as soon as possible, and preferably in
October or November – to discussion of this issue with your faculty. This
information sheet provides some background information, and some discussion
questions.
Background information:
Many universities have recently changed from the regular to
the plus/minus system. Some have considered the change, and decided not
to do so.
In the Big 12, eight schools have some form of plus/minus
grading implemented (and five only use this method); seven have some form of
regular grading implemented (and four of those use only this method).
Most
OU is changing our records software system over the next few
years; if we’re going to make a change, now
would be a good time to do so.
Typically expressed advantages of plus/minus grading:
It gives faculty a more precise tool to measure student
performance.
Faculty don’t have to use the
pluses and minuses, but have the option.
Puts schools in line with the majority of
other major universities.
Typically expressed advantages of regular grading:
Simple and easy to use. If
it’s not broken, why fix it?
Facilitates transfer within
Students worry that switching to a
plus/minus system may reduced their GPA.
Potential Discussion
Questions for a Faculty Meeting:
1) Have any of your faculty used a plus/minus system
in the past? What did they think?
2) Given the option, would you use or ignore the
pluses and minuses if they were available?
3) What advantages do you see to staying with the
regular system? What disadvantages?
4) What advantages do you see to switching
systems? What disadvantages?
5) Sub-issues with the plus/minus system include
whether to use an A+ and how to count it in the computation, whether to use +/-
below the C, etc. Also, how to scale the plus/minus system is an issue –
4.0, 3.7, 3.4, 3.0, … and 4.0, 3.67, 3.33, 3.0 … are
options. Opinions on these sub-issues?
Please write a short summary of your discussion on the
attached sheet, and send it by campus mail or e-mail to Joe Rodgers, Grading
Task Force Chair, OU Psychology Department, jrodgers@ou.edu If faculty or chairs/directors have questions/comments,
contact Joe Rodgers. Thanks!
Information for the Grading Scale Task Force, Fall
2006
From OU Chairs and Directors
Department or Program
________________ Discussion Date __________
Chair or Director (name
and e-mail) __________________________________
By “regular system,” we
mean the typical A, B, C, D, F grading scale.
By “plus/minus system,” we
mean some form of the regular scale with the
addition of grade categories in between those letter
grades, designated by
pluses and/or minuses.
Check one:
The majority of our faculty prefer the regular grading
system ___________
The majority of our faculty would prefer to switch to +/-
grading ___________
Please scale the strength of this preference by circling
the number corresponding to your perception of your faculty’s opinion:
Regular grading
Plus/minus grading
Strongly
prefer
Prefer
Neutral
Prefer
Strongly prefer
1
2
3
4
5
Perceived advantages of the regular grading system
1.
_________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
Perceived advantages of the plus/minus grading system:
1.
_________________________________________________________________
2.
_________________________________________________________________
If you have other comments, please include those in an
e-mail or write them on the back.
Please return to Joe Rodgers, jrodgers@ou.edu,
Department of Psychology
Thank you!!!!
Members of the
Grading Scale Task Force
Kyle
Abbott, Graduate Student Senate, 360-5486, kjabbott@ou.edu
Matt Burris,
interim Chair of Academic Affairs, Undergraduate student appointed by UOSA,
bravofan8@ou.edu
Lou
Ederington, Finance, 5-5591, lederington@ou.edu
Cheryl
Jorgenson, Institutional Research and Reporting, 5-4962, cjorgenson@ou.edu
Pat
Lynch, Admissions, 5-2252, plynch@ou.edu
Mike
McInerney, Botany & Microbiology, 5-6050, mcinerney@ou.edu
Joe
Rodgers, Psychology, 5-4591, jrodgers@ou.edu (Task Force Chair)
Rick
Skeel, Academic Records, 5-2012, rskeel@ou.edu