The controversial addition of pluses and minuses to the ASU grading system has been postponed and may be thrown away altogether after a denouncement by the Academic Senate Ad Hoc committee.
The system, approved by the University's Academic Senate in 1992, was to be implemented in the 2003-2004 academic year, though it will now be pushed back to 2004-2005.
The plus/minus system was initially proposed to give professors more options with which to assess student class performance.
The issue re-emerged in spring when the University prepared to change over the grading system. In response, several students vocalized dissent, feeling the new system would damage their grade point averages, and a petition was circulated against it.
The decision to postpone was made by the Academic Senate's Ad Hoc 13-person committee, composed of faculty, staff and students. They determined the University should hold off on the new system because they need to publicize it to students in the general catalogue; the most recently released catalogue, 2003-2004, did not include the new scale.
There is talk, though, that the system may be scrapped altogether.
In an Associated Students of ASU Senate meeting Tuesday night, Academic Senate President George Watson told the student senate that the committee is looking to overturn the 1992 approval of the plus/minus system.
"The committee felt it wasn't worth the problems the plus/minus system proposes," Watson said of the program that was scheduled for implementation in fall 2003.
Watson, who chairs the committee, said their main concern over the plus/minus system is that the University may have a more difficult time attracting students.
At present, for example, the grades 80 and 89 are weighted the same as Bs, or a 3.0 on the GPA scale. Therefore the present system makes it easier to achieve a higher GPA.
"Students searching for colleges would consider [a plus/minus grading system] and would be more likely to choose one without one," Watson said.
The committee also found problems surrounding the C grade.
If the system were adopted, a C- grade would translate to a 1.67 grade point and would no longer be a passing grade.
Although the committee recommended that ASU retain the current grading system, they will re-evaluate the plus/minus system in January.
If the 1992 approval is not overturned, Watson said the committee would introduce a system that only gives plus/minus letter grades that do not correspond to GPA calculations.
Under this potential new proposal, which is also used by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Maryland, students' grade reports would include pluses or minuses, but grade points would be unfazed, meaning that an A- would still equal a 4.0.
"This system would give a more specific analysis for measuring students' abilities, for example, employment purposes," Watson said.
"The majority of the committee favors retaining the current system," he said, adding that the compromise would satisfy both students and faculty and that he expects a vote in February.
"I want to put it off for student and faculty input so we can receive input from anyone interested," he added.
Reach the reporter at sarah.muench@asu.edu.
