Why +/- could be a problem at Missouri State

I have some thoughts on the Royals and we'll get to those in another post coming shortly. First, I would like to discuss an interesting development from my first day of class at Missouri State.

My first three years at MSU, I have seen a lot of change in the university. We said goodbye to Hammons Student Center and hello to JQH Arena. Head basketball coach Barry Hinson was let go, and Cuonzo Martin took his place. The interior of Siceluff Hall was gutted and completely renovated. And there's probably more I could list here.

However, at least one thing remained the same until today: the grading system. After years of going with a straight ABCDF scale with no pluses or minuses attached, the school has switched to the plus/minus (+/-) system for the Fall 2009 semester. I learned of the switch this morning when on my opinion writing syllabus, I saw a grading scale far more detailed than any I'd seen before. It was certainly news to me, although I knew the school had advocated it for the past few semesters.

To illustrate the +/- system, here is an example: The plan MSU had used before meant a student who scored anywhere in the "A" range would receive four grade points per credit hour (PPCH). In the +/- system, an "A" would still be worth four PPCH, but an "A-minus" is worth 3.7 PPCH. MSU's definition of grades can be viewed here.

Apparently the change was approved in June 20, 2008 because MSU wanted to follow what they call "the majority of colleges and universities in the country which have established Plus/Minus Grading as a best practice." I am unsure of the validity of that statement but I will assume for the sake of this post that it's true. According to the article, the system will be reevaluated in two years.

I am not writing to say +/- grading is a bad idea, although as a student, I am sad that 70 percent and 79 percent are no longer equal to each other. On the contrary, I think the grading style has its merits especially because its enhanced attention to detail will provide a more accurate measure of a student's academic performance.

However, I have a couple of concerns. First, this change raises questions about the calculation and accuracy of composite GPAs for non-freshmen. Second, the university created a possible nightmarish situation when it gave instructors the option of grading "the old way" if they choose. Changing to +/- grading must be applied universally or not at all.

My first problem is with how the new method would blend with the old method of calculating grade point average. Obviously the two cannot be blended together on a transcript; such a calculation would be terribly skewed and an inaccurate representation of any student's work.

Fortunately, this question seems to have been answered. I posed the question to a former instructor of mine earlier today who informed me that grades prior to this semester will be factored independent of +/- grades going forward. "I am almost certain that is true," he wrote. I sure hope he is right, because handling that any other way would be totally irrational.

My second (and more significant) problem is that MSU -- for some reason, I'm sure -- gave instructors the option of grading on the old scale if they choose to do so. This one is a big issue because it creates the possibility that not everybody will grade on the same scale. As such, this decision is detrimental to the integrity of a college transcript from MSU.

The obvious solution to this problem is to require all instructors to use the +/- system before it's too late. Failing that, the university has a couple of options that will rectify this scenario; neither of which are particularly appealing.

First, if the instructor I wrote to is correct and grades prior to this semester will be factored separately, classes that do not use +/- could be worked into the GPA for prior semesters. However, that would falsely influence the prior body of work by mixing two entirely different systems together. This is akin to assuming Albert Pujols would have hit just as well in 1932 as he does today. Different eras must be considered apart from one another.

The other option is to basically do nothing and allow class grades scored "the old way" to mix with the +/- era. I consider this some kind of integration from hell. If the +/- system says 90 percent is an A-minus but an instructor decides a 90 percent is an A, straight-up, that again falsely influences the student's total body of work.

The bottom line to me is that universality must accompany such a drastic change of course. The instructor of the opinion writing class chose to use +/- this semester. His reasons for doing so bothered me, though. As he stated in class, a student who receives an 80 percent should not get the same grade as another who gets an 88. It was "unfair," as he called it.

I can see his line of reasoning; it's always seemed a little strange to me too. But calling it "unfair" is not an argument that can hold water. It was perfectly fair because everybody was evaluated under the same set of standards. Were those standards perfect? No. But at least they were applied across the board by every instructor with no exceptions.

Adding +/- to grades will probably have a positive impact for 2009-2010 freshmen if the system stays in place their entire college careers. However, it could negatively affect non-freshmen because the accuracy of their transcripts could be in jeopardy. Measures to protect against that must be taken, preferably by requiring every instructor to use +/- in their grading.