THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2008
NEWS
3A
CLAS
Plus/minus grading could affect academic standing
BY HALEY JONES
hjones@kansan.com
A new plus/minus grading scale will change the way professors grade the 17,000 students enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences this fall.
The College Academic Council approved the new grading system last year to describe intermediate levels of performance between letter grades.
Professors can choose whether or not they use the new system, which changes grades so that a C-falls below the minimum requirement for maintaining good academic standing.
Where there were once only straight A's, B's and C's, there are now potential pluses and minuses for each letter grade, with the exception of A+. A grade with a plus or minus will be calculated as 0.3 grade point units above or below the letter grade.
In the new system, a student who receives an 81 percent would get a $B_{2}$, worth 2.7 grade points, and a
student who receives an 89 percent would get a $ \mathrm{B} + _ {x} $ worth 3.3 grade points. With the former grading scale, both students would have received a B, worth three grade points.
Almost half of the students at the University earn their bachelor's degrees from one of the 53 departments and programs in the college.
Kim McNeley, assistant dean of Student Academic Services in the college, said a 2.0 grade point average was still required to maintain good academic standing in the college. She said the policy was most common at the undergraduate level.
The college has programs in history, literature, art history, foreign language, anthropology, political science, chemistry, biology and mathematics, among others.
In the previous system, any grade equal to or above 2.0 and below 3.0 was considered a C. Now, a grade of C- is weighted at 1.67, which is considered a failing grade. A cumulative GPA below 2.0 is grounds for academic probation in the college and endangers any
federal financial aid a student may be receiving or eligibility requirements for campus organizations.
She said she hoped students would be more motivated because the policy enabled students to improve their grades from a hypothetical B- to a B.
The College is the last of the 14 academic divisions at the University to adopt the plus/minus scale. The School of Law has not made the change.
Chris Crandall, professor of psychology and Chair of the Committee of Undergraduate Studies and Advising that approved the policy, said the new system improved grading accuracy and unified the college's grading with the rest of the University.
Crandall said the policy was expected to have a GPA-neutral effect because as many students would earn plus grades as would earn minus grades.
Crandall said he tested the new grading system using his 500-student psychology class as a model. He said the overall course GPA was 0.01 grade points lower than
the overall GPA using the previous system.
Crandall said the only students likely to be harmed were those who received a B- grade in most of their courses.
"For every one of those there will be students who always get B+." Crandall said. "The consequences are people will get the grades they deserve, and that can only be a good thing."
Brenna Daldorph, Lawrence junior, said she had experienced both grading systems because she majored in both journalism and French with a minor in art history.
Daldorph said although she thought the policy would promote better work in classes and hold students more accountable, it made her feel less secure about her grades.
"I'll have to say, 'What type of A is it?' since it's not just a straight A," Daldorph said.
McNeley said the council did
She also said she was concerned students might contest their grades more often with the more specific grading scale
plus/minus (+/-) grading scale
plus/minus (+/-) grading scale Grade Point numeric value
A : 93 percent and above A : 4.0
A- : 90-92 percent A- : 3.7
B+: 87-89 percent B+: 3.3
B: 84-86 percent B: 3.0
B-: 81-83 percent B-: 2.7
C+: 78-80 percent C+: 2.3
C: 75-77 percent C: 2.0
C-: 72-74 percent C-: 1.7
D+: 69-71 percent D+: 1.3
D: 66-68 percent D: 1.0
D-: 63-65 percent F: 0.0
F: less than 63 percent
not approve the college's request to implement an "A+" in the grading scale because students were concerned that an A+ might diminish the value of a straight A on their transcripts. An A- is worth fewer grade points on the new scale, and the A letter grade on a transcript is easier to earn with the new system.
Crandall said the dean e-mailed all college faculty telling them to inform their students of which system they would use.
On the first day of class, several professors in the college had not
yet determined which system they would use.
Crandall said the University had no way of monitoring which professors in the College adopted the new system, but he hoped everybody would use it.
Daldorph said that even though it was hard for her to make a judgment on whether the policy was good or bad, it would make her work harder in classes.
CAMPUS
— Edited by Brenna Hawley
Task force to assess teacher evaluation methods
BY JESSE TRIMBLE
jtrimble@kansan.com
The University of Kansas plans to restructure its methods of evaluating its faculty members' teaching styles.
University Senate created a task force at the request of the Kansas Board of Regents this past spring. The task force was supposed to present findings by this fall, but Dan Bernstein, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and chair of the task force, said the study should be completed by December.
In the past, the University selected random seniors and interviewed them about their college
experience with faculty members. This year, the University took the year off to research new ways to evaluate the quality of teaching on campus and determine which method of evaluation is the most effective.
"This year was a time to pause and reflect," Bernstein said. "Presumably, our decision will be influenced by what we learn over the course of this reflection period."
The task force has developed two possible methods: evaluating faculty on general education criteria based on students' sample work and evaluating faculty based on student portfolios kept during each student's time at the
University.
Bernstein said the latter option would allow students to reflect on their work and would also benefit the professors.
"The idea is not to create extra work for the student," Bernstein said. "There is no extra work in having a term paper they've written read by someone else to effectively
to graduate, every senior would be required to take a kind of standardized test, but Bernstein said the standardized testing was not being considered.
"The idea is not to create extra work for the student."
evaluate the professor."
evaluate the profession.
Last year many students were
under the impression that in order
DAN BERNSTEIN Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence
Rick Levy, professor of law and former Faculty Senate president, said the University was exploring every option for evaluating faculty.
ing isn't to determine if students are deserving of degrees — it's to determine teaching abilities of the
"The purpose of test-
However, if a new testing system was implemented, motivation would be a key issue to address for students. Tiffany Craner, Paola senior, said she would be more motivated to keep a portfolio of her work if money were involved.
teachers," Levy said. "It's not about doubting the students. Students are in the best position to assess faculty teaching."
"I wouldn't want to keep all of my work longer than I'd have to," Craner said.
Bernstein said that the University interviewed seniors to judge their progress through college during the past 20 years. Three faculty members interviewed 100 randomly selected seniors for an
hour, asking questions about how and what they learned in college. Students who participated in the interviews received $50 and the faculty members were given a free meal at the Kansas Union.
Levy said the purpose of the process was separate from the individual evaluation forms students fill out at the end of semester-long classes. He said that as a professor, he never received suggestions for ways to improve himself and his teaching. The new assessment would allow teachers to evaluate their own teaching styles and adjust the ways they teach their classes.
Edited by Scott Toland
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