A different type of grading system may be ahead at Arizona State University.
The ASU Faculty Senate voted Monday to recommend a "plus/minus" grading system that would differentiate grades on student transcripts, but not in their grade point averages.
University President Michael Crow must approve the recommendation, which could be implemented as soon as the 2004-05 school year.
Student body president Michael Leingang told faculty members that he worries the change will be too much for potential students. "My concern is we’re asking students to absorb a $1,000 tuition increase next year, and that coupled with a change in the grading system — I’m afraid that will actually affect enrollment," he told the senate.
But some faculty members said the change will create a more refined grading system in which a student achieving a 100 percent mark wouldn’t receive the same grade as a student scoring 90 percent. A student receiving a 90 percent score instead would get an A-minus, or a student with a 79 percent would earn a C-plus.
Most Pac-10 universities and upper-tier schools use a plus/minus grading system, and ASU students headed off to graduate school elsewhere need to get used to the system, said Sue Siferd, an associate business professor. "If we want them to be realistic, we’re sort of coddling them if we don’t make a change," she said.
