Plus/Minus Proposal
5/9/2007 1 Proposal to the Grossmont/Cuyamaca Joint Academic Senate: Implementation of “Plus” and “Minus” Grades starting Fall 2008 Philip Blanco, Astronomy & Physics Instructor, Grossmont College Clifton Quinn, Computer Science & Information Systems Instructor, Grossmont College WHEREAS: 1. Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges are institutions of higher learning committed to the goal of academic excellence for its students and faculty 2. It is the fundamental right and responsibility of individual faculty members to assign grades which best represent their students’ performance in courses they teach 3. A significant fraction of the Grossmont/Cuyamaca faculty believe that the current “plain letter” grading scheme (ABCDF) does not provide them with the necessary accuracy to achieve this purpose 4. The District’s transition to a computerized course management and grading system in Fall 2008 provides us with an opportunity to institute the best possible district-wide grading policy for our courses, with minimal additional disruption or cost 5. The local universities to which many GCCCD students transfer to complete their undergraduate education are San Diego State University, the University of California, San Diego, California State University San Marcos, and the University of San Diego. ALL of these universities employ a course grading scheme which includes “+” and “-“ grades 6. Numerous colleges and universities have transitioned successfully to a “+/-“ grading scheme with significant advantages to students and faculty, and no significant problems reported, and few (if any) institutions have reverted to a grading scheme which does not include “+” or “-“ grades WE PROPOSE on behalf of many of our faculty colleagues that, starting in Fall 2008, instructors may assign the following letter grades to their students’ work at the completion of a course of study (listed together with the equivalent point score for the purpose of calculating Grade Point Averages): A+ 4.0 A 4.0 A- 3.7 B+ 3.3 B 3.0 B- 2.7 C+ 2.3 C 2.0 D 1.0 F 0.0 (Explanatory notes overleaf)
5/9/2007 2 EXPLANATORY NOTES: 1. Individual faculty shall retain the academic freedom to assign “plain letter” grades only, or a subset of the grades listed above (see point 2 of the proposal) in any section of a course. However, the Academic Senate encourages instructors to ensure that their students are made aware of their grading scheme at an early stage in the course. 2. The “minimum passing letter grade” for a course administered by the GCCCD shall remain a “C”. Therefore, the academic requirements for “Credit/No Credit” grades shall remain unchanged. 3. In compliance with California Code of Regulations, Title 5, section 55758: a. Grade points shall be assigned to each letter grade according to the scheme presented above b. There shall be no assignment of the grade of “C-”. c. The grade of “A+” may be awarded to outstanding students whose academic performance merits such a distinction. However, this grade shall be equivalent to an “A”, or 4.0 points, for the purpose of calculating Grade Point Averages (GPAs). d. Each college shall publish in every edition of the college catalog a detailed explanation of this grading system including the grade points assigned for each grade. 4. Furthermore, there shall be no assignments of D+, D-, F+, or F- in this proposed scheme. 5. Given the increased precision afforded by this grading scheme, Grade Point Averages (GPAs) shall be reported on student transcripts to 2 (TWO) decimal places, with conventional rounding up or down of the last decimal place.