Pros and Cons of Using a Plus-Minus Grading System

scholar and energy Views of Plus-Minus scoring outlines Working makeup Series07-11 December 2007 Jim Morgan (928) 523-7385 James. emailprotected edu Gary Tallman Robert get outiams All professors at Northern Arizona University The W. A. Franke College of origin PO Box 15066 Flagstaff, AZ 86011. 5066 scholarly person and capability Views of Plus-Minus Grading bodys presentment M both colleges and universities keep adopted or argon considering adopting a equalisation strategy that bring home the bacons a larger depend of marking choices than the A finished and through F whole-letter establishment. This usually takes the form of a plus-minus (+/-) leveling schema in star version or an opposite.While a variety of causal agents deliver been identify forth for the move to +/- chumps, a key indigence is the belief that a +/- rank organisation peck both reverse the progression of fall guy pomposity or counter its effects by establishing lots than gull choice s so that performance can be more than(prenominal)(prenominal) in effect antitheticiated. This physical composition first reviews studies of the prevalence in American colleges and universities of +/- rank frames and, whitethornbe more importantly, the prevalence of prep ars not utilise +/- remainss who could po 10tially benefit from a cracking to procedure of this form of demolishing dodging.Beca drop of limitations plant in lendable data, a targeted abbreviation of mark systems of a selected set of universities has been conducted. The results of this secondary research ar briefly reported in the second section down the stairs. Results of the first 2 sections indicate that there remains a substantial set of schools that do not certainly utilize +/- scoring and baron be considering a shift to this form of scaling system. Next the paper reviews literature traffic with capacity and bookman perceptions of +/- judge systems and the effects of these systems on the level and dissemination of set outs and on disciple drive.Substantial discriminations in the perceptions of the ii free radicals ar found. The study focalisation of this paper is the analytic thinking of how stave and school-age child perceptions of the benefits of a +/- razing system differ and what the motivations for these differences might be. The technique pulmonary tuberculosisd to explore these questions is a opinion of both force and bookman reactions to a hypothesized remove to a +/- rate system at a mid-size public university in the Southwest. The results indicate that the strength is much more allowive of a heighten than ar schoolchilds.Insights as to why individually group views the effects of the hypothesized change differently be explored in the paper with possible historys for the differences found in hope theory, a popular theory of human motivation that suggests pupils and readiness get out each react to the change in a way that is same(p)ly to give away positive benefits for them, and in resistance to change theory which seeks to identify the factors cavictimization resistance among groups extend toed by a change. Our study shows that each group apprehends the effects of the change differently and that around students and stave members realize actually strong commitments to their views.Examination of the Ex cristalt of Use of +/- dictates A study by the American Association of College Registrar and Admissions Offices reported that 36% of institutions (both 2 and 4 year) in 1992 habituated pl accustoms or minuses in pass judgment whereas 56% of such institutions did so in 2002 Brumfield, 2005. Thirty- 2 institutions moved to a +/- system oer the ten year period. Private schools were much more likely to use a +/- system than public schools. This continues the trend noted in the prior ten year period when a 12% increase in institutions using a +/system was noted Riley, Checca, Singer, & Wor thington, 1994.In order to further evaluate the use of +/- and some other extended category mark systems, on-line catalogs of a exemplification sample of champion fourth of all AACSB accredited business schools were reviewed to fit each schools infra have grading policy. A bestow of 99 schools were prospected, 71 of them public and 28 private. get across 1 shows the dispersion of grading systems used. Three basic grading systems were identified systems using pluses-minuses, systems using a single intermediate comp each and traditional whole-letter grading systems of A, B, C, D, and both E or F.Note that intimately one third of the schools continue to use whole-letter only grading systems. Among public schools, 30 of 71 (42. 5 portion) use only whole-letter grading. Plus-minus grading systems argon clearly the nearly usual display case of grading system among this group of schools. To clarify the notation used below, the A+ to C+ system would use the mugs A+, A, A- , B+, B, B-, C+, C , D, F, while an A+ to D- system would use A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, F and so on. The plus or minus typically raises ( cuts) the prescribe by . or . 33 crop points. As the parry indicates, many schools 1 do not allow pluses and minuses crossways their ample clutches of alums. The grade of A+ creates the possibility of a GPA greater than 4. 0 and, probably for this reason only 9 of the 60 schools with a +/- system include an A+. Four of the 9 schools using the A+ resolve the GPA problem by recording the A+ as a 4. 0 when calculating GPAs, so that the A+ effects just a notation on individual course grades. schooldayss in like manner differ with consider to the bottom of the +/- range. al closely frequently, pluses and minuses are used all the way down through the D-, however, due to issues relating to transfer grades and determining the grade deald for satisfying prerequisites, a number of schools terminate the use of pluses and minuses with the D+ (they do not use a D-) and others stop at the C+ or even C- level. tabulate 1 Distribution of University Grading Systems Number of Schools Using 60 1 8 4 3 16 27 1 7 4 3 32 32 Plus and Minus Grades A+ thru C+ * A+ thru DA- thru C+ A- thru CA- thru D+ A- thru DB+ thru DSingle Intermediate Grade AB, BC & CD AB and BC Whole-letter Only A thru F The A+ grade is counted as a 4. 0 for 4 of the schools using an A+ Systems using a single intermediate grade are far smallish(prenominal) prevalent than the +/- systems. The single intermediate grade is typically listed every as the concatenation of the two grades it lies amid, such as AB for the grade between an A and a B, or as a plus without a corresponding minus. In these systems the grade points awarded for the intermediate grade are half(prenominal) way between the two think whole-letter grades (a 3. 5 for an AB or a B+). Why the Movement to +/- Grading?The proportion of institutions using +/- grading systems increase by 12 percentage from 1982 to 1992 Riley, Checca, Singer, & Worthington, 1994 with the trend continuing. thither are three reasons typically cited as motivation for universities to change to a +/- grading system. They are resides everywhere grade pretension, big businessman to differentiate between students and ability to motivate students to aspire to learn more. A substantial body of literature details the existence of grade swelling in American colleges and universities.One study Levine, 1994 examineed 4,900 college graduates from 1969 to 1993 and found that the number of As awarded had quadrupled and the number of Cs had dropped by two thirds. +/grading shows some promise in reducing grade inflation. In a youthful article the author cites evidence of other studies plus his own analysis of the encounter of Berry College to conclude that the implementation of a +/- system halts and in some cases produces a minor reversal in grade inflation Bressette, 2002. This effect is no t equal over all majors.Majors that traditionally have low GPAs are affected less by a change to a +/- system than majors in a postgraduate GPA major Bressette, 2002). 2 Proponents of a +/- system in any case deal it fracture differentiates students and that it is fairer or more precise. Researchers have found that grades are more reliable indicators of student performance as the width of a grade interval is narrowed Singleton & Smith, 1978. The existence of grade inflation in combination with the traditional A-F grading system effectively subjects the grades available and widens the range of student performance represented by each grade.The introduction of +/- grades increases the grades available and narrows the interval for each grade. In majors where grading is more holistic however, readiness believe the additional grade choices create less precision in student evaluations Quann, 1987. It is similarly argued that students are motivated to take a leak harder under a +/- system. Anecdotal evidence in the form of student quotes indicates that they mustiness continue to crop through the entire semester to earn a grade under the more refined +/- system.The chance of earning a spunkyer(prenominal) grade whitethorn be a motivator (plus) but the risk of earning a lower grade (minus) might be an even stronger motivator tally to one study Cullen et al. , 1975. Evidence to the contrary is present in a study of economics classes at a mid-size Midwestern university that reason out students who chose +/- grading were not significantly more motivated than students who did not McClure & Spector, 2005. Student and Faculty Attitudes Toward +/- Grading As noted preceding(prenominal), the momentum is toward adoption of a +/- grading system.However, fully one third of all schools newly use a whole-letter grading system. As these schools contemplate a change to their grading system it volitioning be important for them to recognize the differing perception s of benefits and costs that major stakeholders have. The major centre of this paper is the analysis of how faculty and student perceptions of the benefits of a +/- grading system differ. A recent study of business school faculty and students identified a substantial gap between the expectations and perceptions of the two groups with keep an eye on to grading and academic rigor McKendall et al. , 2006.In addition, articles and editorials in student newspapers of universities considering adopting +/- grades suggest that this pillow slip of change in grading policies is always controversial. Such changes are typically proposed by the faculty and often even offd by students Brown surveyaday Herald, 2006. Students have noted that the use of a +/- system that does not include an A+ grade tends to lower the GPAs of the best students since they potentially have many flow rate A grades that could become A minuses, but relatively few B and lower grades that could be raised by the plu s grade Storelli-Castro, 2006 Daily A indeedaeum, 2006.Perhaps the clearest evidence of how students view +/- grading versus traditional grading occurs when students have a choice in a particular class. Humboldt State University made the +/- system optional. Student choices were tracked in six introduction to programming classes. Students overpoweringly chose the traditional grading system over the +/- system, although students who chose the +/- system clear more pluses than minuses Dixon, 2004. Students from another university were quoted as arguing that the +/- system would increase the intrinsic tax of an A and help in identifying the very best students Bressette, 2002.A fall out of faculty documenting their actual use of a voluntary +/- grading system conducted at Ball State University provides evidence of variation in faculty concentrate for such a grading system Malone, Nelson & Nelson, 2000. The written report asked graduate faculty how extensively they used the +/- sys tem. Seventy-six percent indicated it was used considerably with patron professors and those at the university for 1-4 years indicating the heaviest usage. Full professors use it less as did those with over 15 years service.The colleges that used it virtually were Architecture, Communication Sciences and the Humanities. The colleges that used it the to the lowest degree(prenominal) were Business, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Psychology. Business used the +/- system far less than any other unit in the University. No explanation was proffered for the differences by college. The differing perceptions of faculty by disciplines were noted in another study that concluded Faculty believed that the meaning of a grade varies more across disciplines than across institutions Ekstrom & Villegas, 1994. While the studies noted above point to a variety of student and faculty attitudes toward +/grading, for the most part these studies have not examined the conceptual bases for student and faculty attitudes. There are at least two divinatory perspectives that may be useful in explaining these attitudes. The first is resistance to change theory and the second is expectancy theory. Resistance to change theory is quite an intuitive and simply states that affected parties tend to resist change to their environment, work or otherwise.Literature describing reasons for resistance to change is well established and many of the major elements cited today were identified many years ago. A 1966 American attention Association keynote presentation identified a number of factors that private road people to resent and resist change Burns 1966. While this presentation dealt with the work environment, many of the factors identified besides apply to the type of change dealt with here. hither in paraphrased form, is a partial list of the factors identified 1.The change was naughtily communicated and the parties involved do not understand the economic consumption of the change. 2. The parties involved lacked any involvement in planning the change. 3. The belief that the cost of the change is similarly high versus the potential benefits to be received from the change. 4. The pervasive belief that the rate of flow way of doing things is perfectly adequate. 5. The fear that the new system will fail. 6. The misfortune to consider the habit patterns of those affected by the change and the impact of the change on those habit patterns.In a more recent study, Goltz and Hietapelto 2002 found that employees (or students in our most likely case) resist change when it decreases their power or decimal point of control over stimuli affecting them. A second theoretical explanation of why evolution to a +/- grading system would be resisted can be found in expectancy theory. Expectancy theory, first conceptualized by Vroom 1964 and relying on the work of earlier scholars such as Tolman 1932, git 1954, and Atkinson 1956, represents a cognitive approach to explaining human behavior.The models picture human beings as bustling, thinking, learning and predicting creatures. People learn to perform certain behaviors (or at least increase the chance of performing the behavior) that they expect would lead to positive outcomes. Consequently, existence are not just products of their environment but they are active in attempting to understand the environment in terms of threats and opportunities. For example, students may perceive a change to +/- grading as a threat. Some of the studies cited above suggest that +/- systems not including an A+ grade do tend to reduce the grades of the best students.More generally, students may believe that +/- grades serve to reinforce the importance of grades, that lower overall GPAs will result from the change and that higher levels of incremental study time will be necessary to thrive under a +/- system. The expectations of lower GPAs, also carries with it graduate school acceptance concerns as well. Finally, the iss ue of +/- grading is much more in-person to students as they rightly understand that the effect of the change applies directly to them. Faculty, on the other hand, do not take the change nearly as personally.Faculty may perceive greater flexibility and greater justice in grading with a +/- system and they might also expect that the +/system would be more motivational to students which would cause them to have a well-fixed attitude toward a +/- grading system. Survey Methodology This section describes a survey of student and faculty opinions somewhat the introduction of a +/grading system at a mid-sized university in the Southwest. The university currently uses a whole-letter grading system with only the grades A, B, C, D, and F.The unlike of +/- grading system being considered is one that adds grades of A-, B+, B-, and C+ to the set of potential grades with + grades being enter at . 3 points higher than the base grade (e. g. 3. 3 for a B+) and grades being recorded at . 3 poin ts less than the base grade. 4 Respondents were asked whether they Favored, contrastd or Didnt receive About or armorial bearing About a change to the grading system that would utilize the +/- grading scheme described above. Those who either Favored or Opposed were then asked to rate the strength of their opinions as either assist only slightly, care somewhat strongly or care very strongly.The results of these two questions were unite to produce a 7 point scale with values ranging from rattling potently Support to really powerfully Oppose (see Table 2). Respondents were also asked to describe the reasons for their fend for or opposition. Results of this open ended question were recorded and categorized with up to two reasons being recorded for each respondent. In addition respondents were asked to provide additional training that might be related to their views of the proposed system. Students were asked to indicate their class standing, their GPA, and the college of their m ajor.Faculty members were asked to indicate their college and their length of service at the university. The survey of students opinions was collected by a group of Marketing students who randomly solicited rejoinders from students introduction and leaving commonly used buildings across the campus. The survey of faculty was collected on-line through an e-mail solicitation. Examination of the demographic distribution of responses suggests that the respondents are broadly representative of the students and faculty respectively.The 1433 student responses represent just over 10 percent of the count of student on the surveyed campus, while the 433 faculty responses represents over 50 percent of the eligible pool of faculty members. Hypothesized Relationships ground upon the literature reviewed in the previous sections, the following hypotheses intimately faculty and student attitudes toward the introduction of +/- grades are proposed. H1 Faculty are more encouraging of a +/- syste m than students. There is some evidence that a move to a +/- grading system may reduce the progression of grade inflation or perhaps reverse it.Therefore, faculty who are concerned about the effects of grade inflation would be expected to be supportive of a +/- grading system. Based upon expectancy theory. Both students and faculty may have resistance to change reasons for argue the new system, but these reasons are likely to be stronger for students. Students may view any change in the grading system imposed by faculty as a potential threat to their GPA. Students also are likely to feel less involved in the change and have less understanding of the purpose for the change.Thus, students would be expected to resist the change to a +/- grading system. H2 Freshmen will be more supportive of +/- grades than upperclassmen. Class standing can also be expected to affect student responses to a change in grading system. Upperclassmen have more incur with the current grading system. They m ay feel that they have learned how to work within that system effectively to optimize their grades. Resistance to change tends to increase, as individuals have more experience with and more of a stake in an existing system.Thus, we hypothesize that freshmen will be more affable toward +/- grades than upperclassmen. H3 As a students GPA increases, support for +/- grades decreases. Since most +/- grading systems, including the one described to our respondents, do not include an A+ grade, expectancy theory suggests that students with very high GPAs have a rational reason to believe that +/- grades are more likely to lower than raise their GPAs. For example, consider a student who has earned As in 80 percent of her/his courses and Bs in the other 20 percent leading to a 3. 8 GPA.For that student, the new grading scheme could only lower and not raise 80 percent of her grades while, for the remaining 20 percent, the grade could be either higher (a B+) or lower (a B-). On the other hand, since the system proposed in this survey does not include a C-, a student who has earned 80 percent Cs and 20 percent Bs under the whole-letter system has 80 percent of his/her grades that could only be increased by 5 the +/- grading system. Therefore, we hypothesize that students with higher GPAs will be less favorable toward the use of +/- grades than student with lower GPAs.H4 As the second-rate grade issued in a students college increases, support for +/grades decreases. The average grade in the college where a student is majoring can also be expected to affect responses to +/- grading. Students in colleges where a very high proportion of As are currently given would have reason to fear that +/- grades would lower average GPAs issued in their unit. In a college with a 3. 2 average grade we might expect that 40 percent or more of the grades issued are As and that 40 percent of grades could not increase, but could only be lowered by the introduction of a typical +/grading syste m.By comparison, a college with a 2. 7 average grade would be expected to be issuing much fewer As, so that use of +/- grades could potentially either raise or lower nearly all of that units grades. In addition, at least one empirical study Bresette, 2002 found this type of effect as discussed above. For this reason, we hypothesize that students, in keeping with the predictions of expectancy theory, will be less favorable toward +/- grades the higher the average grade issued by their college. H5 -Faculty support for +/- grades will become less favorable as tenure at the school increases.Faculty views of +/- grades might be expected to transform with the length of time that a faculty member has taught under the current grading system. As a faculty members experience with using the existing grading system increases, they, like students, may become comfor table with that system and therefore may be more skanky to change. In addition this type of effect was found in one of the empiric al studies cited above Malone, Nelson, & Nelson, 2000. H6 Faulty support for +/- grades will be more favorable as average grades issued in their college increase.The grading culture of the college in which a faculty member teaches may also impact their views of +/- grades. Faculty in colleges with high average grades might logically feel a greater need for additional grading options to better reflect student performance, whereas faculty in colleges with lower average grades might feel that the current system provides adequate assessment of student performance. On the other hand, since faculty are responsible for issuing grades, differences in current grading practices across colleges tend to reflect the grading preferences of the faculty in those colleges.Faculty in colleges with high average grades may be less likely to feel that grade inflation is an important issue. Thus, faculty support for +/- grades may be either stronger or weaker in colleges with high average grades. We bel ieve the desire for additional grading options will be the stronger of the two effects. Survey Results In analyzing the survey results, we will first font to see whether student and faculty opinions about the use of +/- grades differ. Table 2 below shows summary data about student and faculty opinions. There is a strong divergence between student and faculty opinions about the proposed use of +/- grades.Over half of faculty respondents support +/- grades at least somewhat strongly while only 15 percent of students share this level of support. Almost half of the student respondents even off +/- grades at least somewhat strongly, and many of the remaining students are relatively indifferent to, rather than supportive of, +/- grades. A Chi-squared test of the slide fastener speculation that the distribution of faculty opinions and student opinions do not differ has been conducted and the null hypothesis is rejected at the . 0001 level, indicating that there is a significant differe nce between the opinions of the two groups thus musical accompaniment hypothesis one. bow 2 Distribution of Opinions of Students and Faculty About Use of +/- Grades Students Count Percentage 64 4. 4% 148 10. 3% 145 10. 1% 289 20. 0% 129 8. 9% 332 23. 0% 336 23. 3% 1443 100. 0% 0. 0001 Faculty Count Percentage 126 27. 0% 123 26. 4% 48 10. 3% 26 5. 6% 18 3. 9% 57 12. 2% 68 14. 6% 466 100. 0% Support in truth powerfully Support more or less Strongly Support Slightly Dont Know / veneration Oppose Slightly Oppose about Strongly Oppose really Strongly Chi-Square test p-value The next set of tables provides an analysis of the degree to which student opinions about +/grades vary across different categories of students.First we look at the effect of class standing, that is, do views differ between freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Table 3 presents these results. The Chisquare test indicates that the distributions are significantly different and inspection of the table shows v ery clearly that sophomores and juniors tend to be most strongly contradictory to use of +/- grades. Freshmen and seniors do not support use of +/- grades, but are less strong in their opposition and more likely to be indifferent or care only slightly about the grading alternatives.Sophomores and juniors may feel comfortable with the current grading system and be more reluctant to change, while freshmen have less familiarity with the existing system and seniors feel that they would not be personally affected by any change providing support for hypothesis two. tabular array 3 Students Class stand up vs Students Opinion of Use of +/- Grades Freshman 5. 4% 11. 6% 13. 2% 22. 1% 7. 8% 19. 8% 20. 2% (258) 0. 0045 Sophomore 3. 2% 10. 3% 10. 6% 20. 1% 7. 1% 28. 0% 20. 6% (339) Junior 5. 3% 8. 2% 7. 4% 15. 6% 10. 3% 22. 5% 30. 7% (417) Senior 4. 1% 11. 5% 9. % 22. 1% 9. 9% 21. 9% 20. 7% (416) Support Very Strongly Support Somewhat Strongly Support Slightly Dont Know / do by Oppose Slight ly Oppose Somewhat Strongly Oppose Very Strongly Students in family Chi-Square test p-value Table 4 summarizes the distribution of opinions among students in different grade point average categories. Since, the +/- grading system does not include an A+, students with very high GPAs might rationally assume that they personally have more to lose (through A-s and perhaps B-s) than they have to gain (through B+s), and thus oppose the change.The results of Table 4 support this idea, the Chi-square test indicates that students with differing GPAs do differ in their views of +/- grades and students with higher GPAs are systematically more inclined to oppose using +/- grades thus supporting hypothesis three. Student respondents were asked to indicate the college of their major. Since the classification of colleges differs substantially across universities this information is not directly comparable to other 7 universities. However, it would be of please to know whether the grading rigor o f a students college affects student opinions about +/- grading.Students in colleges which currently give many high grades may feel that they have more to lose from the use of +/- grades than students in other colleges. The university in question has six colleges. Two of them have issued grades which, on average, were below a 2. 8 over the last 3 academic years, two issued grades which were on average between 2. 8 and 3. 1 over that period, and two issued grades which were on average above a 3. 1 for that period. TABLE 4 Students GPA vs Students Opinion of Use of +/- Grades 2. 00 or Less 8. 7% 8. 7% 13. 0% 39. 1% 0. 0% 13. 0% 17. % 100. 0% (23) 0. 0001 3. 50 or More 3. 5% 9. 8% 9. 5% 15. 0% 8. 1% 26. 6% 27. 5% 100. 0% (346) Support Very Strongly Support Somewhat Strongly Support Slightly Dont Know / Care Oppose Slightly Oppose Somewhat Strongly Oppose Very Strongly Students in Category Chi-Square test p-value 2. 00-2. 49 5. 8% 9. 1% 9. 1% 33. 9% 10. 7% 16. 5% 14. 9% 100. 0% (121) 2. 50-2. 99 4. 3% 10. 6% 11. 1% 24. 7% 10. 6% 20. 1% 18. 5% 100. 0% (368) 3. 00-3. 49 4. 7% 10. 7% 9. 4% 15. 6% 8. 4% 24. 8% 26. 4% 100. 0% (572) Table 5 shows the distribution of student opinions across these categories.The Chi-square test for equal distribution does indicate that there is a significant difference in the distribution of responses. Opposition to +/- grades is strongest and support for them weakest among students in colleges issuing the highest average grades thus supporting hypothesis four. This result should be interpreted somewhat cautiously however, because of the natural correlation of average grade with the students own GPA examined in Table 4. That is, in general, students in colleges issuing high grades are more likely to have high GPAs.Next we examine how faculty opinions about +/- grades vary across different faculty categories. First the length of service at the university is examined. Much like the situation described for students, it might be hypothesized that faculty who have been at the institution for a long period of time will be less likely to support a change in a grading system that they are used to and comfortable in using. TABLE 5 Average GPA Issued in Students College vs Students Opinion of the Use of +/- Grades Average GPA Issued in Students College lt 2. 2. 8-3. 1 gt3. 1 6. 0% 3. 8% 2. 6% 11. 6% 10. 5% 8. 5% 9. 6% 11. 7% 7. 6% 19. 8% 22. 0% 16. 3% 9. 1% 10. 5% 5. 8% 24. 9% 19. 8% 27. 1% 19. 1% 21. 7% 32. 1% (450) 3. 1 21. 0% 28. 6% 31. 5% 35. 3% 21. 4% 23. 8% 11. 8% 11. 4% 8. 8% 2. 5% 5. 7% 7. 2% 3. 4% 4. 3% 3. 9% 16. 8% 12. 1% 9. 9% 9. 2% 16. 4% 14. 9% (119) 0. 1329 (140) (181) Support Very Strongly Support Somewhat Strongly Support Slightly Dont Know / Care Oppose Slightly Oppose Somewhat Strongly Oppose Very Strongly Faculty in Category Chi-Square test p-valueThe reasons given by students and faculty members for supporting or opposing use of +/- grades are summarized in Tables 8 through 11. These tables were assembled by categorizing open-ended responses. In the case of respondents opposing +/- grades, there were a number of somewhat distinct 9 responses that were sleek over logically related in an overall category. In those instances the overall number of occurrences in the general category is presented, but the distribution of responses within the subcategories is also presented.Table 8 summarizes reasons given by students supporting the use of +/- grades. The predominant reason given was that the system would provide grades that are more accurate and provide a more refined measure of performance. The second most prevalent reason that +/- grades provide a more appropriate reward for the effort is somewhat related. Other rather frequent reasons given were the feeling that +/grades will raise GPAs and the belief that they will increase incentives for students to work hard in classes.In contrast to the 35 students who felt that +/- grades would raise GPAs, Table 9 indicates that 10 times as many students (352) believe that +/- grades will have a negative impact on grades. It seems clear that fear of lower grades was the most important factor in the overall negative view of students toward the +/- grading system. Just over 100 students indicated that they oppose +/- grades simply because they prefer the current system and either see no reason to change or do not like the new system.Students also criticized the new system as being overly complicated, increasing stress and placing too much focus on grades, requiring more work of them to receive the same grades, and having a potential negative impact on employment, scholarships, and/or getting into graduate school. TABLE 8 Students Reasons for Supporting +/- Grades Number of Comments Grades are More stainless/Refined Provide More Appropriate Reward for the Effort lead Raise GPAs incrementd Incentives to Work Harder Will increase the Reputation of the School Other Schools Use Them 145 43 35 21 7 5Reasons for faculty support for +/- grades are summarized in Table 10. The two most prevalent reasons cited closely parallel the top two reasons for support provided by students. First, that grades will be more accurate and refined under a +/- system (identical to the students top response) and second that they are fairer or better for the students (similar to the students response of provides more appropriate reward for effort). Other prominent reasons for support include the belief that +/- grades will help combat grade inflation, and that they will change student motivation. 0 TABLE 9 Students Reasons for Opposing +/- Grades Number of Comments In SubIn Category Category 352 164 145 32 11 104 54 50 38 34 21 16 15 9 8 5 Negative Impact on Grades An A is an A (is onerous enough) It will lower my GPA Achieving 4. 0 is More Difficult comprehend from ASU / Lower Grades Prefer Current System Like current System / no reason to change Dont like the change System is more Complicated Too much pressure / stress Wil l require more study time for the same grades Puts too much focus on grades Negative Impact on Scholarships/Employment/Grad.School Doesnt motivate me more Like high School/Grade School Changes Schools Atmosphere TABLE 10 Faculty Reasons for Supporting +/- Grades Number of Comments Grades are More hi-fi/Refined Grades are Fairer/Better for Students Will Combat Grade rising prices Will Improve Student Motivation Better / Easier for Faculty (Feel better about grades given) Will Improve Student Feedback 173 50 26 23 12 10 Reasons for opposition to +/- grades among faculty were varied (see Table 11). Most commonly cited is the idea that the change poses more costs than the benefits it provides.The next most frequent concern was the belief that grade challenges and arguments over grades would be increased since more students would be near a boundary between grades. Somewhat related to this are concerns that grades will be more difficult (physically and emotionally) for faculty to constr uct and compute and that the particular grade given will be arbitrary. Interestingly almost as many faculty believed that +/- grades would have no impact on or would increase grade inflation (17) as believed that +/- grades would reduce grade inflation (26). Finally, 10 faculty members expressed concern that +/- grades would overemphasize grades. 11TABLE 11 Faculty Members Reasons for Opposing +/- Grades Number of Comments In SubIn Category Category 39 14 9 9 7 24 21 17 17 10 7 10 6 4 3 2 Cost versus melioratement Current System is OK (no need for change) No Benefit to Change No Benefit to Students High cost to change with Little Benefit Will Increase Grade Challenges/Arguments Grading Will be More Difficult for faculty Grades are More Arbitrary Grade Inflation Impact Will Encourage Grade Inflation Wont Reduce Grade Inflation Overemphasis on Grades Emphasizes Grades versus Learning Adds to Student Anxiety over Grades Not used by Employers / recruiters May Hurt Student Grad School chancesConclusions This study examined the utmost of use of +/- grades in AACSB accredited business schools by collecting data from 99 such schools. Sixty percent of the schools use some variant of a +/- grading system, 32 percent use only whole-letter grading and the remainder use a single intermediate grade. A survey of faculty and student opinions about a move to +/- grading at a mid-sized university in the Southwest provides a number of interesting insights. There is a strong divergence between student and faculty opinions.Over half of faculty respondents support +/- grades at least somewhat strongly as compared to only 15 percent of students. Nearly half of student respondents oppose the change at least somewhat strongly. Students and faculty supporting the +/- grading system cited very similar reasons for their support the belief that grades will be more accurate and refined and the belief that grades will be fairer or better for students. Some students also indicated the ch ange would provide incentive to work harder. Some faculty felt it would combat grade inflation and improve student motivation.Students who oppose the change believe there will be a negative impact on GPAs (352 students believe this versus 35 who believe grades would improve). The next most prevalent student mention was that they prefer the current system and see no need for a change. Faculty who opposed the change commented most frequently that there is little benefit from the change and next that it will increase grade challenges or make grading more difficult for faculty. Opposition to the change was strongest and support for +/- grades was weakest among students in colleges issuing the highest average grades.In addition, sophomores and juniors and students with higher GPAs tend to be most strongly opposed. This suggests that student opposition to a +/- grading system could be reduced by implementing it in a phased manner (starting with the freshman class) and by finding a way to incorporate a grade of A+. In addition, resistance to change theory suggests that it is important that the reasons why the use of +/- grades might be in the best interest of students be effectively communicated throughout the process and that students groups should be involved early in any proposal to institute +/- grades.