LSU eyes grading change
LSU may soon switch to a new student grading system that awards different scores for “plus and minus” letter grades in classes.
On a 4.0 grade-point average scale, an “A–” would mean a 3.7 and a “B+” would score a 3.3 in the proposed change.
A standard “A” or “B” grade would still correlate with a 4.0 or 3.0, respectively. Currently at LSU, a “B+” and a “B–” both result in a 3.0 score.
The LSU Faculty Senate is set to vote on the potential change Thursday.
LSU Student Government overwhelmingly opposes the “plus-and-minus grading system.”
LSU Chancellor Michael Martin said Wednesday he plans to implement the new grading scale in the fall if it is approved by the Faculty Senate. Martin said he believes the proposed system allows faculty to provide more flexibility and accuracy in their grades for students.
“They (students) may have their case, but I’m going to be more faculty-centric than student-centric in this case,” Martin said.
LSU Student Government President Cody Wells said the traditional 4.0 GPA system is working fine and does not need any tweaking or complicating. Wells said he believes more students will be punished than rewarded because many end up with “minus” letter grades.
“We’re opposed to it, and I don’t think the students want it,” Wells said. “It hurts students who are borderline.”
Thomas Rodgers, who is the Student Government director of academics, said he thinks the proposed grading system could hurt LSU’s retention and graduation rates by impacting students who are on academic probation with GPAs near 2.0. Also, he complained there is no boost for students receiving “A+” grades.
“My advice to students is to be incredibly risk averse by never being that close to the edge,” Martin said when asked about the academic probation argument.
LSU Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope said he expects a close faculty vote on the matter. Cope, who said he plans to vote in favor of the proposed grading system, said he believes students will actually benefit in the long run.
Most faculty members will tend to “round up” if students are near a “plus” letter grade and actually boost student GPAs in many cases, he said.
“A lot of the faculty think there’s not enough resolution in the (current) grading system,” Cope said.
A majority of public research universities nationwide have some form of plus-minus grading, he said, although many schools have different variations.
The only obvious negative for top-notch students, Cope said, is that LSU likely would have fewer valedictorians graduating with perfect 4.0 GPAs. The argument is that some of the top students will have their scores dipped because of some “A–” grades.
Faculty members who are opposed to the plus-minus grading should not worry, Cope said, because they will not have to adopt the new system. The proposal would simply give each professor the option.
The grading system was proposed by LSU finance professor Don Chance. He notes that Tulane University and a majority of Southeastern Conference universities have some form of a plus-minus grading scale.
Chance’s resolution points out that the negative impacts from the switch include a small extra cost to the university to reprogram the grading software and that the change likely would lead to an increase in students appealing their grades at the end of each semester.
Martin, who said he supported switching to a plus-minus system when he was a professor at Oregon State University, said he does not expect any technical or cost problems in making the change.