Grade substitution policy moves forward

After a year under discussion in the Student Rules and Regulations Committee, grade substitution is set to go before the Academic Senate, the body that must approve any such proposal to make it official Institute policy, in April.

The policy will effectively allow incoming freshmen to retake a maximum of two failed courses taken during their first year at Tech - without having that course factor into their GPA calculation.

If passed during the Senate meeting, the proposal would replace current academic policy, which states that while a student may retake a class, both grades factor equally into the student ' s GPA.

The substitution policy is not retroactive and will not apply to students currently enrolled at Tech. Only incoming freshmen beginning in the fall of 2005 would benefit.

Exploration of a grade substitution policy dates back almost two years, when SGA ' s Academic Affairs Committee compared Tech ' s academic policy and that of peer universities such as MIT, which allows freshmen to take classes on a pass/no record basis their first semester.

As a result, a grade substitution proposal was formulated by the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (IUCC), a standing committee of the Academic Senate, to create a similar opportunity for Tech students.

The idea of grade substitution sparked debate among both students and faculty. Some felt it would result in grade inflation or give incoming freshmen with an unfair advantage that would cheapen the value of a Tech degree.

" A lot of students felt...[that if] they earned their grade fairly the first time around, why should somebody be able to retake the class and get a higher grade, " said Amy Phuong, undergraduate student body president.

" It ' s like any change: they feel like what was good enough for them [will be] good enough for the future, " said Kent Barefield, chair of the Student Rules and Regulations Committee and an associate dean in the College of Sciences.

" [There were] concerns expressed by some students about an increase in the number of people graduating with honors because of this, but it ' s not going to have a big impact on that, " Barefield said.

" I don ' t think [some students] are necessarily concerning themselves with other schools, " Phuong said. " A lot of students [pride themselves] on being able to...walk across the stage knowing that they earned something all by themselves. "

" It ' s a good mentality to have, " she said, but also pointed out that evaluating current Tech policy relative to other universities was necessary for Tech to improve its national ranking.

Phuong also noted that many of the concerns raised may have been the result of misinformation, especially as the policy went through several revisions before it was passed by the IUCC and put before the Rules and Regulations Committee last spring.

The committee tabled the issue due to a lack of research to justify its effectiveness, and it remained there until Phuong revisited the policy when she took office last summer.

" I [argued], let ' s try to at least get a policy that works...Let ' s get it to the point where we can only pass it...and, kind of like a baby step, gradually change [things], " she said.

Phuong worked with the Rules and Regulations Committee, which asked the Registrar and the Office of Institutional Research and Planning (IRP) to gather data about grade substitution ' s potential benefit to the student body.

The report released by IRP predicted that freshmen retention rates would be substantially higher with a grade substitution policy in effect than without one.

" After we saw that...we decided that in fact there could be a good outcome from this, " Barefield said. " That ' s ultimately what put it over the hump. "

The data was brought before the Executive Board, which agreed that the issue was worth further consideration and sent it back to the Rules and Regulations Committee.

The policy remained there for most of the current school year, in part because the committee did not meet quorum often enough this year to approve the policy sooner.

However, it was eventually passed at a recent committee meeting with few changes.

Barefield is cautiously optimistic about the fate of the policy at the Academic Senate meeting in April.

" I think they will probably be in favor of it, " Barefield said. " [But] I wouldn ' t want to predict what the Senate ' s going to do. "

In the meantime, both Phuong and Barefield encouraged students to be open-minded about the policy.

" I think it ' s in the best interest of the incoming student body, " Phuong said.

" We ' re certainly not doing anything that ' s out of the mainstream for high-quality academic institutions, " Barefield said.

FINAL GRADE SUBSTITUTION POLICY

(set to go before the Academic Senate in April)

1. First-time freshman students who receive a grade of D or F in a course within their first two terms in residence are eligible to repeat the course and have the original grade excluded from the computation of academic averages. Grade substitution may be used only once per course, with a maximum of two courses total.

2. The course must be repeated at Georgia Tech within the student ' s first four terms in residence. The application for grade substitution must be filed with the Registrar ' s Office no later than the deadline for withdrawing from a course during the student ' s next term in residence after the course is repeated.

3. The original course and grade will continue to appear on the student ' s transcript, with a notation that the course was repeated and that the original grade is not included in computation of the academic average. Credit for the course will be counted only once.

4. If the revised academic average results in a change in academic standing for any term, then the revised standing will be reflected on the student ' s transcript. If standing is changed from Dismissal to a higher standing, it will be recorded as " standing from Dismissal " and the dismissal will continue to be counted with respect to regulations and policies related to Withdrawal and Readmission.

5. A course is not eligible for grade substitution if the student was found responsible for any academic misconduct in that course.

6. The grade substitution policy (including, but not limited to, course eligibility, number of courses, time limits and deadlines) is not subject to exception and may not be petitioned to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.