The Faculty Council is debating whether to change the grading system to include plus and minus symbols with letter grades. Students are divided on the issue as there are benefi ts on both sides.
Faculty Council is considering adding plus and minus grading to student transcripts.
The change would add three boundaries to each letter grade, such as an A plus, an A or an A minus.
Faculty Council Chair Bob Miller said the council is looking into plus and minus grading because the University of Oklahoma asked it to.
“It’s being considered at the University of Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education is asking OU about this process,” Miller said. “They wanted to know if OSU would want to consider such a plan.”
Plus and minus grading is against the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education policy, but eight of the Big 12 schools are using the system, according to an OU grading scale task force Information report.
Using plus or minus grading would put Oklahoma universities in line with the majority of other universities as well as giving professors a more accurate way to measure a student’s performance, according to the report.
However, Brad Bays, Academic Standards and Policies Committee chair and associate geography professor, said the grading scale could make more work for professors, and most committee members think the system is unnecessary.
“There’s a pretty good argument that increasing the number of grade boundaries with a plus or minus grading system will likely increase end-of-term special pleading by students,” he said.
Bays said the committee agrees plus and minus grading wouldn’t make a difference in a student’s overall grade point average.
Bays said the grading system relates to how it looks to an employer interviewing a student.
“I’ve often been one to really empathize with the student who makes an 89 percent,” he said. “I wish that could be a B plus on your transcript even though it might be the same grade point as a B; visually, it might look better. It’s sort of a perceptual thing — you did really well, but you just didn’t cut the mustard for the higher grade.”
One mechanical engineering junior also said the grading system would be more hassle than it’s worth.
“We’re already used to just the blanket A, B, C, D, F,” Kyle Klufa said. “If [employers] wanted to see that to get an idea of how well you did, they could just ask you in interviews. What’s the point of putting a plus or minus on the transcript if it doesn’t change anything?”
One psychology senior said the system could hurt students in competitive majors.
“I’m against if because, for instance, in my major if you get a C, it’s not looked up very well, and a lot of times you have to retake it — especially in the upper division classes,” Genta White said. “Having a C plus or a C minus isn’t really going to make a difference. The plus is great, but you also have to have the adverse: the minus.”
Some students said plus or minus grading could go either way for a student.
“I don’t think I would want it on my transcript,” said Katie King, a mathematics freshman. “I think it would be hard for a student who got a C minus as opposed to a student who got a C plus. On the other hand, it would be much better to have an A plus than an A.”
Some students think the grading system would give more distinction to students who performed well.
“I would like it better because it would have a more competitive aspect other than GPA,” said Lance Fannon, a human resource management sophomore.
Others don’t like it because it creates more work for students.
“I personally don’t like it because I enjoy being able to get a 90 and just having an A,” said Britny Lamunyon, an English senior. “With that being my only goal and they added the minus, I would feel like I needed to get an A plus. It results in harder work for me, so I don’t like it.”
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