1969 Grading Reform Proposal

SGA ACADEMIC REFORM COMMITTEE GRADING REFORM PROPOSAL The following are the basic premices inder which the Committee has worked: A. Grades have come to be important reinforcers for appropriate learning behavior. Although grade are not the sole motivating force for learning, students have come to depend on them as a source of satisfaction and encouragement. B. grades are necessary as a convenient, though often unreliable, way to evaluate a student's work. Since so many other institutions depend on grades as a source of student evaluation, eliminating them completely or modifying them beyond recognition would be impractical. C. Because of the demand for higher education, there must be some criteria for determining who is taking best advantage of the experiences offered at Towson State College. D. Academic standards should be flexible enough to make room for students to grow in a number of ways. For instance, a grading system should not penalize students who take longer to get their degree or who made trials and errors along the way. E. A grading system should be uniform throughout the college so that meaningful comparisons of student evaluations will be possible. F. A single grade at the end of a semester should not be a substitute for more detailed feedback and teacher-student dialogue which students need to evaluate their own progress.