After months of research on behalf of Student Government Association members, a resolution asking for the abolishment of the Plus/Minus grading system was passed with unanimous consent during the February 28, 2012 senate meeting.
Drafted by the Academic Affairs Committee, the resolution draws upon data gathered by Missouri State University in addition to the results of a student poll hosted by SGA. Over 1500 students responded to SGA’s Plus/Minus poll, with the overwhelming majority of students stating that they would favor the removal of the Plus/Minus grading system.
Introduced in the fall of 2009, the Plus/Minus system was aimed primarily at reducing grade inflation. However, data from Office of Institutional Research indicates that implementing the system led to the largest instance of year-to-year inflation of mean undergraduate cumulative GPA in 10 years.
Student Government Association members approved the strongly worded resolution unanimously in hopes of indicating to faculty how strongly the majority of the student body feels in regards to the current system.
The next step for SGA is to present the resolution to Missouri State’s Faculty Senate, where faculty members will have the opportunity to hear from student representatives and provide feedback on the resolution.
For more information, please contact Paige Oxendine, Chief Communications Officer, at Oxendine100@live.missouristate.edu