Faculty discusses new grade reporting system

The University’s transcript is getting a makeover.

Members of the faculty executive committee met Monday afternoon to discuss a new grade reporting system that will launch in fall 2012.

No decisions were made in the committee, but the session served as a review of proposed changes.

Contextual grade reporting, the new system of transcript organization, was endorsed last spring by the committee.

The reporting system will provide contextual information, including a grade index showing the student’s performance compared to his peers, on students’ transcripts that provides context.

Sociology professor Andrew Perrin led the discussion, presenting transcript examples from Dartmouth College and Indiana University that highlight the ideas administrators are hoping to adopt in the near future.

“We have done sort of a straightforward survey of reporting practices on transcripts,” Perrin said.

While the future transcripts will not include full descriptions, administrators are planning to also include class size and the student’s grade in relation to the median grade in a particular class taken.

“This is about transparency and we want to provide as much information as possible,” Perrin said.

In addition, the registrar’s office will be able to electronically provide and download transcripts. Any historical information would be available starting in fall 2010.

In response to the presentation, some members had questions.

Kevin Guskiewicz, chairman of the department of exercise and sport science, suggested the new transcript might be more confusing than the present one.

“I’m so tired of trying to explain it to people,” Guskiewicz said.

The goal of the transcripts is to provide a clearly defined depiction of a student’s grades and performance, although the system is still improving, committee members said.

“We’ve been working all year,” Perrin said.

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