Pros and Cons of Using a Plus-Minus Grading System

Student and Faculty Views of Plus-Minus Grading Systems
Working Paper Series—07-11 | December 2007

Jim Morgan
[phone] [e-mail]

Gary Tallman Robert Williams

All professors at:

Northern Arizona University The W. A. Franke College of Business
PO Box 15066 Flagstaff, AZ 86011.5066

Student and Faculty Views of Plus-Minus Grading Systems
Introduction Many colleges and universities have adopted or are considering adopting a grading system that provides a larger number of marking choices than the A through F whole-letter system. This usually takes the form of a plus-minus (+/-) grading system in one version or another. While a variety of reasons have been put forth for the move to +/- grades, a key motivation is the belief that a +/- grading system can either reverse the progression of grade inflation or counter its effects by establishing more grade choices so that performance can be more effectively differentiated. This paper first reviews studies of the prevalence in American colleges and universities of +/- grading systems and, perhaps more importantly, the prevalence of schools not using +/- systems who could potentially benefit from a shift to use of this form of grading system. Because of limitations found in available data, a targeted analysis of grading systems of a selected set of universities has been conducted. The results of this secondary research are briefly reported in the second section below. Results of the first two sections indicate that there remains a substantial set of schools that do not currently utilize +/- grading and might be considering a shift to this form of grading system. Next the paper reviews literature dealing with faculty and student perceptions of +/- grading systems and the effects of these systems on the level and distribution of grades and on student effort. Substantial differences in the perceptions of the two groups are found. The major focus of this paper is the analysis of how faculty and

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