Volume CXXXIII, Number 14 February 1, 2002 f

Demystifying the proposed system
BELINDA J. LOVETT
ORIENT STAFF

The Recording Committee will conclude a student poll today in which students are being asked their opinion of the proposal to institute a plus/minus grading system in place of the current system of straight letter grades.

The information that the Committee collects will be presented to the Faculty in March, with a possible Faculty vote in April. If the Faculty votes to change the system, the Recording Committee would likely favor instituting the policy as early as next semester.

Because it would be difficult for faculty to have different students on different grading systems, especially in the same class, the Recording Committee would likely favor placing all students on the plus/minus system, meaning that the current first-year, sophomore, and junior classes would have transcripts with straight letter grades for the current and past academic years and plus and minus grades for future years.

Under the proposed system, faculty members would have ten categories in which to place students: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, and F. "A" grades would still be equivalent to four points, "Bs" three points, "Cs" two points, "Ds" one point, and "Fs" zero points.

Plus grades would be 0.3 points higher than the straight letter grade, and minus grades would be 0.3 points lower than the straight letter grade. A "B+," then, would be equivalent to 3.3 points, while a "B-" would be equivalent to only 2.7 points. (See accompanying chart.)

The changes in numerical equivalents would mean that students who got minus grades would receive lower grade points than they do under the current system. On the other hand, students who get plus grades would receive higher grade points than they do under the current system.

Currently, a "B+", "B-", and "B" are all worth three points. Under the proposed system, a "B+" would be worth 3.3 points, a "B-" would be worth 2.7 points, and a straight "B" would still be worth three points. No "A+" is proposed, nor would "Ds" or "Fs" be divided into plus and minus categories.

If the proposed system were adopted, the criteria for honors would remain the same, but the method used to calculate GPA would be according to the plus/minus numerical equivalents.

The Recording Committee has been seriously considering the change in grading systems since September, and a faculty poll was conducted at the end of last semester.

Bowdoin is the only college in our 18-college comparison group that does not have a plus/minus grading system.

A plus/minus system was proposed to the Faculty in 1997, but it was defeated.