3Y\1
    •1\
    TO: SENATE
    FROM: DEAN OF ARTS
    RE: ARTS FACULTY REQUEST FOR MODIFICATION
    June 22, 1966
    OF THE GRADING SYSTEM
    1.
    At a recent meeting, the Faculty was notified by me of the Senate's
    acceptance of the Grading System proposed by the President's Committee
    which was specially set up to make recommendations on this subject.
    2.
    The Faculty had already expressed, by a marginal vote (9 to 8),
    its preference for a more detailed Grading System, and a correspondingly
    more detailed system of numerical equivalents. This preference was
    considered, but over-ruled, in the Senate meeting referred to in (1)
    above, which adopted the recommendations of the President's Committee.
    3.
    When it was notified by me of the Senate's decision, the Faculty
    entered into a further discussion of the Grading System, and by a
    vote of 25 to 1 urged Senate to reintroduce the alphabetical grades of
    A- and C+. The Arts Faculty was otherwise ready to accept the details
    of the Grading System adopted by Senate.
    4.
    If we consider the recent comparative study of student grades made
    by Charles Hamilton, the difficulty of interpreting broad grades (A,B,
    C,D etc.) becomes immediately apparent. It exaggerates the gulf between
    B and C performances by omitting the simple fact that many of the B's
    probably verged towards B-, while many C's verged towards C+. In short,
    most students in a course may really have fallen in an unseen, because
    unrecognised, category which came between B and C.
    5.
    The Faculty of Arts felt that the omission of A- and C+ was
    particularly unfortunate because these are perhaps the most critically
    useful grades: C+ might even be the most used grade.
    6.
    The awarding of scholarships, bursaries,
    • etc. frequently requires
    some fine distinction to be made between candidates who are in many other
    respects of almost identical achievement. -
    7.
    In conclusion, the Arts Faculty feels that the top grade of A and
    the much-used grade of C badly require sub-divisions. An unqualified
    A (A+ was thought to be a contradiction rather than a qualification)
    will inhibit its use in the many instances when a student's work attains
    some A quality without being squarely A throughout: an unqualified C
    will
    produce similar difficulties for the marker, thus lumping together
    students who almost made a B grade with students who did really poorly.
    Sim
    q17k4
    • ..
    A
    -
    Page No. Two
    Scale Adopted
    A
    B
    B-
    C
    C-
    D
    F
    Def.
    N
    '-
    -, -
    Scale Recommended
    A+
    A
    A-
    B+
    B
    B-
    C+
    C
    C-
    D
    F
    Def.
    N
    A.B. Cunningham
    Chairman
    AC: k

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