plusminus grading system调整分级系统.doc

SENATE AGENDA ITEM .
8 March 2005
APPROVED SENATE
8 March 2005
Plus/Minus Grading System
CAGAS Report to Faculty Senate
Introduction
In September, 2004, the Council on Admission, Graduation and Academic Standards was requested to provide a mendation regarding the adoption of plus/minus final grades for undergraduates at Western Illinois University. A mittee was formed consisting of h Clontz, Karen Mann, and Martin Maskarinec. The following information is the result of research that examines analyses of plus/minus grading, grading systems used at other institutions, and a survey of faculty and student opinions at Western Illinois University. That survey was conducted online during November and December 2004.
Advantages
The single most important argument in favor of a system of final grades that includes plus and minus grades is the increased accuracy of the grade as a reflection of student performance. A report on plus/minus grades provided to the Academic Senate of Arizona State University in 2002 summarizes puter model developed at Wake Forest University that estimates an error in grade assignment at between a root mean of and in a system not using +/-. That error drops to between and for a +/- system (see Appendix A, also Matthews). As a justification for preferring a +/- system, faculty members responding to the WIU survey of mented on the unfairness of the present system for students who achieve an average of 89: their final grade of B is not distinguishable from the B that a student with an average of 81 receives.
Some advocates of a +/- system argue that it will reduce grade inflation, since students who barely reach a grade level will receive a minus grade (an A-, for instance) rather than a full grade (an A). The Arizona State University report summarizes the impact of +/- grades on students with various GPA’s, based on the Wake Forest model and data from impact studies at MIT and North Carolina State University (see also M