A Faculty Senate committee is researching options to possibly move the University to a plus-minus grading system.The Admissions, Standards and Honors committee is internally discussing policies at some universities, deciding whether the plus-minus grading system would be beneficial to the University by providing a more precise method of grading.The University currently awards 4 quality points for an A, 3 for a B, 2 for a C and 1 point for a D.For example, the plus-minus system could potentially change the grade earned by a student with a 77 percent average, said Paul LaRock, oceanography professor and ASH committee member.”Under the current system, he or she would get a C for two quality points.  If we went to the plus-minus system, I would give the student a B-, which earns them 2.7 quality points, clearly benefitting them,” LaRock said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille.Robert Perlis, ASH committee chairman, said changing the grading system wouldn’t make plus-minus grades mandatory. Rather, each instructor would have the option use plus-minus grades in his or her class.”Nobody can tell other people what an A means in their course,” Perlis said. “If we had plus-minus grading, but a faculty member said they don’t like that, they can just give all their students an A. Nobody says you have to assign an A-.”Under the current grading system two students might receive the same grade for work of different quality   levels, Perlis said.”If you have two students in a class, and one is doing very, very low B- work, and one is dong very, very high B+ work, they get the same grade, whereas one student is almost an A student, and one is almost a C student,” Perlis said.Geography graduate student Shaun Williams said he would support a plus-minus grading system because he has received the same grade as a student whose average was seven or eight points below his own.LaRock taught at Florida State University, which utilized the plus-minus system, before coming to LSU. The ASH committee used FSU’s grading scale as a potential model to follow.FSU’s model adds or subtracts 0.3 quality points from the A, B, C and D grades to expand the grading possibilities, LaRock said. For example, an A is worth 4 points, while an A- is worth 3.7, B+ is worth 3.3, B is 3 points and so on.Eight schools in the Southeastern Conference use the plus-minus system — the universities of Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas and Vanderbilt University. Only three SEC schools offer an A+ grade. The University of Alabama offers it, and the University of Kentucky and Vanderbilt University both offer A+ to law students.Perlis said A+ grades worth more than 4 points could be problematic when comparing grades at different institutions.”Presently, A means 4.0, and for purposes of students transferring colleges, you don’t want to have the highest grade be above 4.0,” Perlis said. “If you make that grade an A+, that would be confusing because most places don’t have A+.Only four of the SEC schools don’t use plus-minus grading — LSU, Auburn University, the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University. The University of South Carolina uses plus grades but not minus, which Perlis said is an option for the University to consider.The ASH committee has not yet prepared a report or conferred with the Faculty Senate on the matter. Perlis said the committee will decide whether to make a recommendation for Senate study after additional research.Perlis said the idea is far from implementation, and students would be consulted before any decision was made.”If this would go through the Faculty Senate, I’m sure there would be a year-long discussion,” he said. “A poll of faculty and students would definitely be involved.”Stacia Haynie, vice provost of Academic Affairs, said everyone involved with the discussion understands there is more work to come before this could be a reality at the University.”The ASH committee recognizes they need additional input and analysis, including student input,” Haynie said. Student Government President J Hudson said he is interested in reviewing grading options and examining the possibility of a change.”My philosophy is if a student earns a grade, they deserve what they earn,” Hudson said. “If I made an 89, and someone else made an 80, there’s a 9-point difference there that’s not reflected on any documents.”Perlis said moving to a plus-minus system may not be possible even if both the Faculty Senate and students supported the idea because of necessary changes to University catalog and computer systems.”Given the particularly challenging budget situation, the resources it would take to implement such a change could be a challenge for the University,” Haynie said.Perlis said the ASH committee will decide whether to submit a recommendation to the Faculty Senate by the end of the semester.–Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]