ULM might do away with the current 10-point grade scale system and replace it with a new ranging system that has recently been proposed. The new system would further pinpoint a student’s grade. For example, a student would receive an A+, A or A-, instead of just the basic A.
ULM held an opinion poll for students and faculty to vote for the system they prefer. Fifty-three percent of students voted “yes” for the new system, while faculty voted 66 percent in favor of the old system.
“I prefer the traditional system because it’s on the 10-point scale, and an A is just an A,” said Dawson Beene, a senior pre-nursing major from Hanesville. “You do not have to worry about whether your grade is a plus or minus…It would be less stressful.”
Prominent colleges across the nation use the ranging grading system. Some of the schools include: Tulane, Clemson, Duke, NYU, Penn State, Princeton and Yale.
The ULM Faculty Senate is considering the grade scale change ultimately because it would help faculty members whenever dealing with graduate students. The new system will thus further evaluate student performance.
Faculty Senate President at ULM Paul Sylvester explains that a ranging scale would play some part in combating grade inflation. The fact is that it might have the opposite effect on students who are trying to graduate as valedictorians.
Lauren Ferguson, a freshman speech pathology major from Pineville, said, “I would choose the new [system] because it seems more likely to round up our grades, resulting in a better grade point average.”
No final decision has been made regarding grade scale changes.