THE Pendulum
ELON, NORTH CAROLINA | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2011 | VOLUME 37, EDITION 1
www.elon.edu/penduium
High number of A’s increases average student
GPA, could lead^to-siorc rtgoroxxA tsa.ahh
Sam Parker
Senior Reporter
Following the recent trend
in distinguished grades at Elon
University, 25 percent of grades given
during the fall 2010 semester were A’s
while 12.8 percent were B’s, bringing
the standard GPA to 3.17.
Steven House, provost and vice
president for academic affairs, said
his worries are more centered on the
rise of A’s and B’s among students
rather than the increased GPA.
“The average grade percentage
being 3.17 doesn’t really bother me at
all,” House said. “What bothers me is
the percentage of A’s. If you look at
our catalog, it says the A is reserved
for distinguished performance, and
when a quarter of the students are
getting a distinguished performance,
it raises the question of how
distinguished an A really is. It seems
that faculty are doing a disservice
to th?ir very good students that are
really doing distinguished work.”
Peter Felten, assistant Provost
and director of the Center for the
Advancement of Teaching and
Learning, said he believes an issue lies
in the understanding of what grading
is about and what its purposes serve.
“I think we don’t have a common
understanding of what grades
are for,” Felten said. “Within the
same department, there are some
instances where there are two faculty
teaching the same course to the same
number of students, but each have
very different grading methods.
One may be curved, while the other
is criterion-based, and to me, that
doesn’t seem entirely fair. 1 think it
would be helpful if faculty within
the same department agreed on what
grades are actually for.”
House said he and faculty have
pondered several reasons for the
grade increases in order to better
understand how to address the
issue.
“There are a number of reasons
that people use to explain why grades
are going up,” he said. “One, students
are smarter and faculty are better
teachers. Faculty teach differently
then they used to, i.e. they used to
say, ‘Hand in your paper, I’m going
to grade it, and that’s your grade.’
Now, 1 give it back to you with some
suggestions so it’s more back and
forth, back and forth.”
In response to the suggestions.
House said the administration has
advised faculty to execute more
rigorous academic teaching and
supply thoroughly descriptive
rubrics.
“I think this is a faculty-led
initiative,” he said. “They’re the ones
who are going to have to be responsible
for making sure they give rigorous
exams with appropriate grading to
give good feedback to students and
recognize them for the work they’re
earning. That being said, my job will
be to back them up, and right now,
I think the best way to address this
issue is to be transparent with the
information.”
As the university executes policies
pertaining to minimum GPAs, both
Glenda Crawford, director of the
Teaching Fellows, and Maureen
Vandermaas-Peeler, director of the
Honors program, agreed students feel
pressure to earn A’s and B’s to remain
in good standing within academic
programs. They also said students
tensions should not place pressures
on faculty to easily hand over higher
grades.
“The requirements of the
(Honors Fellows) program make
it incumbent on the students to
achieve and are not intended to put
any pressure on faculty assigning
grades,” Vandermaas-Peeler said. “A
combination of hard work, ability
and intellectual curiosity enabled
students to gain admittance into
the program, and we expect these
qualities to be enhanced in college.”
Crawford said she believes it
See GRADES I PAGE 5
\Vhe\t are you waiting for?
Scheduled to perform at Elon
Lauren Ramsdell
Arts and Entertainment Editor
Students are already chomping at
the bit to Jearn who the artists for this
year’s popular Spring Show are going
to be.
Unfortunately, the announcement
is still weeks away. The Student
Union Beard promises a reveal everit
like no fther during the Feb. 5 men’s
basketball game versus Appalachian
State University.
There is limited information
surrounding who the opening and
main acts will be, and only certain
people within SUB know the full
details. But, Neon Trees, an electric
rock quartet from Provo, Utah, has
announced on its Facebook page and
its band’s website a 2011 tour stop at
Elon University.
fs^on Trees W3S 3 contender in
the Spring Show survey released this
fall for an opening act slot for a still-
unknown featured performer. The stop
is on Friday, May 5, the same day as the
Spring Show.
SUB President My Nguyen and
adviser Bobby Dunlap, assistant
director of student activities, both
said the organization cannot comment
on the bands selected for the Spring
Show because of technical and legal
reasons.
“The official word from SUB is that
we will give no comment regarding the
actual artist or artists until the day of
the Spring Show Reveal,” Nguyen said
in an e-mail exchange.
But for Neon Trees fans, regardless
if the band is coming for the Spring
Show or not, a stop in Elon on the tour
is more than enough.
for the L
ELON NEWS, VISIT WWW.ELON.EDU/PENDULUM