Latest Embarrassing CHE Op-Ed: Make All Courses Pass/Fail

[dr_codex]

We can control how we handle internal grades and CGPA. Our decision was that a P (meaning any grade D and above) would not count towards GPA; F's will count, however earned. As others have pointed out, whether or not that's a good thing depends on the grade that a student would otherwise earn, and upon their overall CGPA.

However, as others have noted, we often require a C or better for prerequisites, for graduate courses, and for courses in many of our professional licensure programs. As a result, those courses were not allowed to elect P/F as a grading system. The logic, I assume, is the same that some of us discussed on other threads: D's are useful to distinguish students who have (almost) completed the work, and who should not be asked to retake a course, but whose success is not sufficient to use that course as a basis for follow-on coursework.

We have warned students, however, that P grades may not be eligible for transfer elsewhere -- our normal policy is to accept only grades of C or better, although we have other policies for AP courses, CLEP exams, and other equivalencies, so this may wind up being decided piecemeal, and may well depend on Departments. Humanities Departments might accept P's for Calculus, while our Engineering ones may not. It might well wind up being a "holistic" decision, as somebody upthread says will be Berkeley's practice.

A lifetime ago I worked in a law school admissions department. My job was to crunch the numbers, both generating a standardized "GPA equivalent" and combining it with LSAT scores. My current admissions department has a similar product, which they then use as one component in generating an overall "score" for applicants. The idea, in part, is to create a more or less objective number, in order to rank candidates. That said, in both places that objective score was almost immediately examined within all kinds of contexts, for all kinds of reasons. The P/F grades will be one more factor, and probably no more difficult to evaluate than others. In some cases, people might need to see an explanation of how an institution handled this crisis, but that's no different from getting syllabi, course descriptions, and grade distributions, which is standard operating procedure.

[downer]

How is your school implementing their new P/F policy? What do you have to do?

One place I teach leaves it to the student to arrange it with the Registrar. This is the right way to do it.

Another place requires students to send me a form which I have to sign and then send to the Registrar. It turns out that electronically signing the forms is actually quite tricky, and that students are not good at filling out forms. So this is the wrong way to to it.

[spork]

[. . .]

A lifetime ago I worked in a law school admissions department. My job was to crunch the numbers, both generating a standardized "GPA equivalent" and combining it with LSAT scores. My current admissions department has a similar product, which they then use as one component in generating an overall "score" for applicants.

[. . .]

I once had a conversation with the dean of a law school where admissions operated in a similar fashion. Someone in the admissions office would mark up each applicant's transcript to highlight courses that were likely taken to boost the applicant's GPA. The GPA was then weighted downward accordingly.

The students here are not going to law school though. What is probably happening: students are taking all courses outside of their majors as pass/fail. The more the general grade distribution in a major is skewed toward A+, the more likely the student from that major will go pass/fail for courses taught out of other departments. Even though no one will ever ask them after graduating what their GPA was. They seem to believe that GPA somehow matters, even though they are here to get a diploma, not learn.

[arcturus]

At my institution, instructors could choose to make their entire class S/F (not recommended) or let individual students request S/F. For the latter, the student simply emails the instructor to request this option. Instructors, however, have been warned that in some instances (for scholarships, etc) students still need a letter grade. My approach has been to tell students that they must consult with their academic advisors before requesting S/F grading in my courses. I don't need (or want!) the details as to why they are requesting S/F grading, but I do want them to have professional consultation before doing something that could have long term academic consequences.  [Not that their academic advisor is necessarily going to give them the correct advice, based on my past experiences with some of our "advisors."]  I worry that the requirement that they consult with an academic advisor is an extra hurdle for students who may be stretched very thin from the current circumstances, but I also think that students may not be aware of the requirements to stay eligible for some scholarships. So far, the handful of students who have requested S/F grading have indicated that they are doing so after consulting with academic advisors, so this approach does seem to be working.

One of my concerns about students who have opted for S/F is that they are in danger of F.  I worry that they will not realize that they still need to complete some work to earn the passing grade.

[RatGuy]

Here, students were given the option to take P/F on a class-by-class basis. The deadline was the last day of class. Originally faculty were told to pass along to students that P/F decisions couldn't be appealed. This is complicated by the fact that many of our freshman gateway classes don't assign Fs -- below a 70 is designated "no credit," which forces the student to repeat but doesn't count against GPA. Interestingly, a P in the P/F scheme is 60 and above, even in classes where 70 is required to receive credit. That means a lot of Freshman are taking that option to increase their chances of passing. Unfortunately, an F will negatively impact the GPA in a way that a "no credit" would not, so they're shooting themselves in the foot.

(Anecdotally, students in my class who took the P/F option pretty much stopped turning in work. In my freshmen class, none of the P/Fs were in the 60-69 range, and about 1/4 received an F)

Now the Dean's Office is telling us that any student who appeals their P/F decision -- either they regret opting in when they would've gotten a good grade, or because they F'd, or because they didn't opt in when it would have helped -- will have their appeals upheld. So now students can see what they earned before deciding to appeal. And as been said upthread, this task is a bit onerous for instructors.

[Puget]

How is your school implementing their new P/F policy? What do you have to do?

One place I teach leaves it to the student to arrange it with the Registrar. This is the right way to do it.

Same-- we don't know who has elected P/F, we just submit their letter grades and they get converted if the student has so elected.

Our system is actually more like grade insurance than a traditional P/F option where they have to elect it early-- that is, they get to see their letter grades, and can then request conversion to P/F for a course. Normally, they get a max of 4 of these in their college career and can't apply it to any course counted for a major or minor, so it's pretty limited and intended to encourage some risk taking with out-of-comfort-zone classes in our generally risk--averse, high-achieving, students. For this semester however, they can convert as many courses as they want and those will continue to count for majors and minors-- that seems like a reasonable accommodation given the circumstances.

[Parasaurolophus]

In the end:

Same-- we don't know who has elected P/F, we just submit their letter grades and they get converted if the student has so elected.

Our system is actually more like grade insurance than a traditional P/F option where they have to elect it early-- that is, they get to see their letter grades, and can then request conversion to P/F for a course. Normally, they get a max of 4 of these in their college career and can't apply it to any course counted for a major or minor, so it's pretty limited and intended to encourage some risk taking with out-of-comfort-zone classes in our generally risk--averse, high-achieving, students. For this semester however, they can convert as many courses as they want and those will continue to count for majors and minors-- that seems like a reasonable accommodation given the circumstances.

Same here. Except that when I went to enter grade, I noticed that 'F' had been replaced with 'NC' ('no credit'). Faculty were never advised of this change, and there's no guidance about it anywhere on the site beyond saying it stands for 'no credit'. But since the alternative was giving my Fs Ds, and since there was no time to ask anyone (we have half an hour once we open the form), I assigned them NC. Shrug.

[Aster]

My institution made the wise decision to not attempt it.

In hindsight, hearing all of the problems experienced by others, I am especially thankful that we opted out.

[Caracal]

How is your school implementing their new P/F policy? What do you have to do?

One place I teach leaves it to the student to arrange it with the Registrar. This is the right way to do it.

Same-- we don't know who has elected P/F, we just submit their letter grades and they get converted if the student has so elected.

Our system is actually more like grade insurance than a traditional P/F option where they have to elect it early-- that is, they get to see their letter grades, and can then request conversion to P/F for a course. Normally, they get a max of 4 of these in their college career and can't apply it to any course counted for a major or minor, so it's pretty limited and intended to encourage some risk taking with out-of-comfort-zone classes in our generally risk--averse, high-achieving, students. For this semester however, they can convert as many courses as they want and those will continue to count for majors and minors-- that seems like a reasonable accommodation given the circumstances.

Yeah, it isn't something I have to deal with in any way. It just means that my students are less anxious about their grades. Good for me, good for them.

[Parasaurolophus]

TBH, judging from the emails I've gotten from students, I'm not sure that they actually know about the pass/fail option.

[arcturus]

TBH, judging from the emails I've gotten from students, I'm not sure that they actually know about the pass/fail option.

I have one student who was failing before the outbreak but is now (barely) passing. She wrote to ask whether she should drop the class and try it again in the future. Since her grade has improved during "these difficult times" it is not clear that she is eligible for S/F grading in the spirit within which our institution has implemented it. However, I did suggest that this is not the time to drop the class, and that she should look into grading options that are available this semester. She has not yet asked for S/F grading, but I will do so if she makes the request, even though the present circumstances appear to be helping rather than hindering her academic performance.

[Vkw10]

My university is allowing students to have their grade changed to "emergency pass" by emailing professor within 10 days following deadline for posting grades. Students are advised to consult advisors first, since the EP may affect eligibility for courses with prerequisites, scholarship or veteran's benefits, etc.

Students are confused by the EP option. I've been telling them it's like a lifeboat. They should all be doing their best to study and keep grades up, but if anyone gets grade and realizes they've fallen overboard, the EP option is a lifeboat that gives them a chance to stay alive until rescue. But they need to do their best not to need that lifeboat.

[Caracal]

My university is allowing students to have their grade changed to "emergency pass" by emailing professor within 10 days following deadline for posting grades. Students are advised to consult advisors first, since the EP may affect eligibility for courses with prerequisites, scholarship or veteran's benefits, etc.

Students are confused by the EP option. I've been telling them it's like a lifeboat. They should all be doing their best to study and keep grades up, but if anyone gets grade and realizes they've fallen overboard, the EP option is a lifeboat that gives them a chance to stay alive until rescue. But they need to do their best not to need that lifeboat.

Why make the professor have to do it? Seems like an unnecessary hassle and an extra opportunity for something to get screwed up. Can't they just write the registrar?

[rxprof]

Our university went to pass/fail, but it did not impact how I entered grades. I still entered a letter grade and then it was converted to pass/fail. Students have until a specified date to keep it pass/fail or reveal their grade on their transcript. They cannot subsequently change their decision. I teach in a competitive program. Students were still trying to earn an A (e.g., contesting final exam grades) because they had been told that the actual letter grade would still be reviewed for scholarship/award purposes.