NIU may use a new grading system in which instructors give more specific assessments.

NIU has not decided which system, if any, it will adopt. Nor does NIU know when it would apply a new system.

Vice Provost Earl Seaver said NIU has a couple options. The Faculty Senate suggested changing the current grading system to a plus or minus system or to an A, A/B, B, B/C, C, C/D, D, D/F or F system.

Seaver said the faculty is pushing for a new system, but he is unsure about how students would feel.

“I think the faculty likes it because they can separate an 89 percent grade from an 81 percent,” Seaver said. “I’m trying to get a broader impact from students. The honors students have been very good with generating feedback, but we still need more.”

Seaver said many students who have given feedback seem to disapprove of a new system because the inclusion of an A- or A/B would make it harder to receive a 4.0 grade point average. Under a plus or minus system, an A- normally is counted as a 3.67 GPA. Under the other system, an A/B generally receives either a 3.33 or a 3.50 GPA.

Changing the grading system also would interfere with NIU’s academic probation policy. Seaver said a student whose lowest grade is a C- theoretically can be put on academic probation under current NIU academic probation guidelines.

Don Larson, executive director of enrollment at NIU, said another possible system that would eliminate this problem uses pluses but not minuses. He said it is unlikely NIU would use this system.

If a change is made, NIU most likely would adopt the plus or minus system.

“There are some who feel we should have more gradation in our system. We have to look at a couple of things before a change can take place. The first is the cost of implementing such a change,” Larson said. “We also need to know how information will be treated by those who receive our transcripts. What kind of impact would this have with transfers or employers?”

Larson said the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign currently is the only Illinois public university using a grading system different from NIU’s. UIUC uses the plus or minus grading system.

Les Cromwell, visiting assistant director at UIUC, said that system works well because it gives instructors the opportunity to evaluate each student fairly and accurately. He also said that the plus or minus system sometimes has positive effects on a student’s overall GPA. For example, a student with an 89 percent in a class will receive a 3.00 GPA under NIU’s system. Under the plus or minus system, that student probably would receive a 3.33 GPA.