USG solicits grading complaints

The USG is shifting its stance on the University's controversial grade deflation policy from trying to abolish the policy to ensuring that it is fairly and correctly implemented for all students.

"Ultimately, I would like it [grade deflation] to be overturned," USG president Rob Biederman '08 said. "But I'm not going to work on it this term because I don't think it is a practical or achievable goal for the USG right now." He added that former USG president Alex Lenahan '07, who focused on abolishing grade deflation last year, made little progress toward overturning the policy.

Instead, Biederman said, he and the USG are committed to helping students who feel they have been unfairly graded as a result of grade deflation.

To this end, Biederman sent an e-mail to the entire student body on Monday soliciting e-mails from those who felt that a professor had incorrectly applied the grade deflation policy in assigning first semester grades. The e-mail reminded students that, "Individual professors are allowed, of course, to give whatever percentage of 'A's' that they wish. They may not, however, use the new grading policy as a reason to assign a certain percentage of 'A' grades."

The e-mail further reported that Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel has already spoken to one professor who implemented the policy incorrectly in fall 2006. USG academics chair Sarah Breslow '08, who is an associate photography editor at The Daily Princetonian, said that this action was in response to a student who contacted the USG over Intersession.

"The student told us that a professor had sent out an e-mail that said this was the strongest year ever for this course, and I really wish I could give you all As, but I can't because of grade deflation," Breslow explained.

Biederman said his e-mail had two main purposes: "One was to intervene in specific cases where professors were misunderstanding the policy, to maybe get grades changed for some students and also to ensure that these professors don't do it again. And the second reason for this whole drive is to show that, in my opinion, the grade deflation policy is frequently misapplied."

Biederman and Breslow estimate that they have already received between 50 and 60 e-mails from students who feel they have been unfairly graded by professors as a result of the policy. Many of these e-mails, Biederman said, were accompanied by forwarded e-mails from professors explaining how grade deflation had affected the student's grade.

"I was really surprised by how quickly students got back to me — literally within the first two hours after Rob sent out his e-mail," Breslow said.

"I think there's a spectrum represented in [these e-mails]," Malkiel said in an e-mail. "There may be some cases where it appears that some grades ought to be changed, and then some changes will likely be made. There may be other cases where the grading is fair and reasonable, but the communication between faculty member and student may not have been as effective as it might be."

Biederman and Breslow plan to meet with Malkiel later this week to discuss these cases and ways to ensure the policy will be implemented consistently, fairly and accurately in the future.

The e-mails received by Biederman and Breslow will also be forwarded to Malkiel.

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"I think a lot of professors don't seek to become fully informed about the policy," Biederman said. "They just assign a set number of As, but if you talk to Dean Malkiel, or if you actually read her e-mails, you see that's not how grade deflation is supposed to work. Dean Malkiel has made a lot of efforts to explain the policy."

"I think the faculty could have made a more proactive effort to understand the policy."

Malkiel added that the University Faculty Committee on Grading is continuing to work on finding ways to assist the faculty in implementing the policy.

One way the committee tried to do this was by e-mailing the University faculty a "Strategies for Grading" memo in mid-January. The two-page document explains the University aims for, on average, 35 percent of grades in undergraduate courses to be in the A range and suggests professors "think in terms of tilting downward" when defining grade boundaries. It also specifies, however, that "no student who does exceptional or excellent work should fail to be given a grade in the A range."

The memo also cautions faculty members to be careful of how they discuss grading with their students and discourages professors from using statements such as, "In previous years, half of you would have gotten A's, but under the new grading expectations, I can only give 35 percent of you A's"; "No matter what happens, only four of you will get A's in this course"; and "You should know up front that only 35 percent of you can get A grades."

These statements are similar to ones described in some of the responses the USG has gotten, which Breslow said were generally along the lines of, "I took this class last semester, and my professor told me my work was really great, but because of grade deflation I was given a B+ instead of an A-."