A proposed change to the grading scale of the University of Idaho has professors and students talking about what the change will mean for them.
The proposal to implement plus and minus grades, as opposed to whole letter grades, was passed by the UI Faculty Senate two weeks ago. The change still needs to be discussed at the University Faculty meeting on May 1 and approved by the president.
The Teaching and Advising Committee recommended in its proposal that the system not be implemented until fall semester 2023. This would give advanced notice about the change to students who areconsidering graduate school at UI,or taking more than four years to graduate, according to the document released by the committee.
Taylor Raney, chair of the University Curriculum Committee, said he initially opposed the new grading scale and voted against it when it was discussed at a University Curriculum Committee meeting. However, he said now that the proposal has moved forward, he feels differently.
“I respect the process and believe the faculty will take steps to ensure their grading systems are valid,” Raney said.
Raney said he has been surprised by the response to the proposal. He said very few people have had much to say about the plus and minus grading scale. The few people that have mentioned it to him have not had strong feelings about the proposal, Raney said.
Marla Kraut, an accounting professor and head of the accounting department, said she is against the new grading system. She said she does not think much good will come from the new proposal.
“I think students will become too focused on individual points on assignments and exams instead on learning the material,” Kraut said.
Kraut said she thinks students will have more incentive to fight with their professors for extra points to get the slightly higher grade, for example,to move from a B to B+. Kraut said when students get grades, they are not happy with, they should use that as a learning experience. She said students should focus on improving and learning from those experiences, not on fighting with their professors over a few points.
Allan Caplan, a plant sciences professor, said he was against the new grading system for a different reason. Caplan said he fears adding plus and minus grades will make assigning student grades a more precise process than it should be.
“I doubt I can slice the pie that fine as to distinguish C+ from B-, even though my courses are heavily fact-based,” Caplan said.
Hannah Kemp, a first-year student majoring in biology and pre-veterinarian studies, said she is opposed to the new grading system because of the extra stress it will put on students to get higher grades if they want a certain GPA.
“If you end up with an A- that screws up your entire GPA rather than just having a plain old A,” Kemp said.
Penelope Morgan, a professor of fire ecology and forest ecology, said she supports the change. She said it will help her better communicate with her students about their performance. She said that for students who fall in the B and C ranges, the system could provide more incentive to improve. She said if students don’t think they can move from a B to an A, for example, a B+ may seem more achievable and that could motivate them to work harder and get more out of a class.
Jaeli Peterson, a first-year student majoring in biology, said she supports the new grading system as well.
“Personally, I would like it because I have a lot of high Bs,” Peterson said. “I had an 88 in anatomy last semester and it is kind of annoying that only counted as a B.”
Bill Smith, chair of the International Studies Program and International Studies Professor, said he is neutral on the new policy. He said there are upsides and downsides to it, but he believes they will even out and not make much of a difference in the long run for students.
Smith said that students who get a minus grade in one course will probably get a plus grade in another course, so in the endtheir GPA would be the same.
Zach Sugano, a junior studying computer science, agrees with Smith that the change won’t make much of a difference for student grades.
“Most likely you will end up with a very similar GPA you would have had because it will balance out,” Sugano said. “Classes you do a little better inwill probably balance out with the ones you don’t do as well in. So, overall, I don’t think it would change things.”
A potential benefit of the new system, for Smith, is more opportunities to give students a boost to their grades.
“I know as an instructorit is hard sometimes to bump someone with no pluses or minuses,” Smith said. “There is a big difference between a 3.0 and a 4.0, there is less of a difference between a 3.3 and a 3.7. So, if someone’s got a B+ and they are really close to an A- it might be easier for me to bump them up.”
On the other hand, Smith said he thinks the whole letter grade system can work better for some students. He said currently if a student gets a 90 in a class they can relax because that is an A but in the proposed system that would be an A-. With the current system for many students it can be easier to achieve and maintain a grade they are happy with said Smith.
Marc Chopin, dean of the college of business and economics, said he also has mixed feelings about a plus and minus grading system.
Chopin said many institutions that he would consider “competitive schools” use the plus and minus system. So, he said it may be doing a disservice to students who want to pursue graduate school or other post-undergraduate studies to not implement the proposed change.
However, he said he worries a plus and minus system will make students too focused on their grades.
“I think that the grades can sometimes become a distraction,” Chopin said. “I do know that they are important, but they shouldn’t be everything. Things that make grades more contentious or increase the focus on the grade as opposed to the knowledge transfer and building understanding, I think is a detriment.”
The University Faculty Meeting on May 1 will be the next opportunity to officially discuss this new policy and it will be open to all students and faculty.
Gavin Green can be reached at [email protected]