As of Summer 2017, Delta College instructors have been allowed to issue +/- grading.
This lets teachers showcase if a student is on the higher end or the lower end of a letter grade spectrum.
Delta student, John Loony, expressed dislike toward the +/- grading saying, “because none of my classes can give a A+ but you can still get an A- it just lowers my GPA. It just creates an imbalance because it lowers the GPA faster for me without anyway to increase it faster.”
Jesus Davila, another Delta student also pointed out problems in the system.
“It just makes it harder for the 4.0 students and easier for B students,” said Davila.
Loony and Davila both made great points about the 4.0 students as they will have to try harder to get their grade above an A- when in the past it didn’t matter what their grade score was as long as it was in the A range it would still be full credit.
However, B students now have an equal chance to get a better B or a lower B.
Either way they have better odds than A students.
“I don’t mind the whole situation even if it effects grade point average. It’s what you earned and it will just help encourage students to work harder,” said Matthew Klee, offering a slightly different opinion.
A grading system that also changed is the addition of FW or “failed withdrawal.”
Receiving this grade means that someone was attending class until the end of the withdrawal date and then never attended the class afterwards.
Most people that leave class after the last withdrawal date usually do so because that’s around the time the last financial-aid check comes in and also the time a lot of students think they don’t need to attend class anymore.
To counteract this type of behavior FW was created to mark students that stop attending class after the withdrawal date and also to lower the financial aid of students responsible for this.
The implication of the +/- grading can help B and C students which are the majority of students at delta. Even if some students GPA lowers the majority of people have a chance to raise theirs even if only slightly.
The FW is a great system that can stop people from stealing financial aid money and prevent students from committing fraud. Even if students with FW’s don’t understand their situation someone has to pay for what they are taking and their debt is pilling up.
