GRADE REPLACEMENT
POLICY
Committee on Policy and Planning
Mānoa Faculty Senate
May 4, 2011
Background
In Fall 2010, the grade replacement issue
was brought to the Senate from the
Administration’s Enrollment Planning
Working Group on “Improving Retention
and Graduation Rates at Mānoa.”
CAPP was asked to consider whether Mānoa
should develop a ‘replace’ grade rule for
courses taken twice by students who did
poorly the first time they took a course.
The Problem
• One of the reasons that students drop out of
college is due to poor grades, usually between
their second and third terms.
• What is not clear is to why the remaining
students were not graduating within four or six
years.
• Our six year graduation rate is 50.6% and our
four year graduation rate is 14.5%
(collegeresults.org, 2011)
Graduation Rates: UHM Lags Behind in Comparison with
Similar Universities
Four-Six Year Graduation Rates
Source: www.collegeresults.org (2011)
Retention Rates: UHM Lags Behind in Comparison with
Similar Universities
Source: collegeresults.org (2011)
Investigation of Current Academic Policies and Impact on
Graduation and Retention Rates at UHM
•
Repeating Passed Courses (Page 16 UHM 2010/11 Catalog)
Students may only repeat a course in which they received a grade of C-, D+, D, D-,
F, or a NC. Degree credit for a course is given only once. The grade assigned for
each repeated course is permanently recorded on the transcript. Grades for all
repeated courses will be included in the GPA.
•
Repeating Failed Courses (Page 16 UHM 2010/11 Catalog)
Students may repeat, for a letter grade only, any course in which an F was received.
If this is done at UH Mānoa, credit hours and grade points for each attempt are
included in the GPA. Students may repeat (but not for a letter grade) CR/NC courses
in which they received a grade of NC.
•
Current Policy Does Not Allow Students to Repeat Courses in Which They Have
Received Grades of C or Higher. In practice, however, students do repeat courses
by obtaining instructor over-rides. The second grade for the same course is excluded
from the calculation of the semester and the cumulative grade point average.
(Students who repeat courses in which they have received grades of “C” or higher
usually do so for reasons such as fulfilling pre-requisites for a competitive
undergraduate or professional program and/or to improve their levels of competency
in the subject matter or other reasons).
•
.
Investigation of Current Academic Policies and Impact on
Graduation and Retention Rates at UHM (continued)
•
Total Effect of the Existing Policies: Under “Repeating Passed Courses,” the catalog
addresses repeating courses for which students received failing grades as well as low
passing grades. As such, the catalog fails to clarify how the policy differs for passed
courses and failed courses.
•
Second, the policy does not allow students to replace a lower course grade with a
higher grade in calculating the GPA; the grades for all attempts are included.
•
Third, current policy of repeating a passed course and repeating a failed course
averages both failed grades as well as low passing grades, thus it takes a student
longer and costs more to attain a passing grade to enter a major and/or to graduate.
In addition, data shows that students with poor/failing grades in their earlier years
tend to drop out.
•
Fourth, students can re-take with instructor over-rides a passed course (C and
higher) but the second attempt is excluded from the semester or cumulative GPa,
hence the student is taking longer to graduate.
•
CAPP finds these policies to be unfriendly to students, to discourage students’
making further attempts to improve performance and hence gain knowledge, and to
discourage some beginning students who do not perform well in their first year.
Investigation of Current Academic Policies and Impact on
Graduation and Retention Rates at UHM (continued)
• If a student’s gpa is below 2.0 the student
is placed on probation.
• Data show that these students are less
likely to continue on.
• UHM has a 53% drop-out rate for students
on probation after the completion of one
year of college.
Mānoa’s Data on Students Who Do Not Return After First
Year Probation
Same Freshman Cohort from Fall 2007
Source: Mānoa Institutional Research Office 01-11
Mānoa’s Year Over Year Student Drop-Out Rate
Same Freshman Cohort from Fall 2007
Source: Mānoa Institutional Research Office 01-11
Development of the New Grade Replacement Policy to
Address the Retention and Graduation rates at Mānoa
• The new policy evolved from CAPP’s
review of 1) repeating passed courses,
and 2) repeating failed courses.
• CAPP compared UHM with similar, peer,
and benchmark institutions.
• CAPP also compared retention and
graduation rates.
Proposed New Grade Replacement Policy for Mānoa
• University of Hawai`i Mānoa
Undergraduate students may repeat up
to three (3) Mānoa courses for grade
replacement. Both grades will be
reflected on the transcript. However,
only the higher of the two grades will
be used in the calculation of the
cumulative grade point average. Degree
credit for any repeated course is given
only once.
Effect and Purpose of the Grade Replacement Policy
• Encourage student success in every possible
way including graduation.
• Help a student to continue at Mānoa and
facilitate retention.
• Encourage students to gain competency in
courses.
• Help students shorten time to graduation &
thereby spend less in tuition dollars.
• Enable students to compete on the same level
playing field as others who graduate from
Universities that have grade replacement
policies.
Effect: The Current Policy on Repeating Classes
Versus the New Grade Replacement Policy
Current
Proposed
1.
1.
The Current Policy allows
students to re-take classes in
which they have earned below
C- to F grades.
2.
Averages all failed/low grades in
2.
computing final GPA when a
student repeats a course and
passes.
3.
At the end of the first year if a
Freshman has 5 Cs and 3 Fs –
the cumulative GPA will drop
from 2.0 to 1.25 and into
probation.
3.
New Proposed Policy allows
Three Grade Replacements in a
student’s entire undergraduate
years at UHM.
The higher three grades will
replace the poor grades.
Freshman on probation.
Effect: The Current Policy on Repeating Classes
Versus the New Grade Replacement Policy (continued)
Current
Proposed
4.
If the Freshman returns for a third
semester, retakes the three failed
courses, earns all C’s then the
cumulative GPA will go up by .20
points totaling 1.45; student remains
on probation.
4.
If the Freshman returns for a third
semester, retakes the three failed
courses, earns all C’s then the
cumulative GPA will go up by .75
points totaling 2.0; student is off
probation.
5.
A student with 111 credits of C’s
and nine credits of F’s would have a
GPA of 1.85 and into probation.
5.
Student with 111 credits of C’s and
nine credits of F’s would have a
GPA of 1.85 and into probation.
6.
After re-taking the 3 failed courses
the student must get 3 A’s in order
to bring the cumulative GPA to 2.0.
If the student gets 3 C’s or 3 B’s
the cumulative GPA would be 1.860
or 1.930 – still on probation and still
not graduating from UHM.
6.
After re-taking the 3 failed courses if
the student gets 3 A’s then the
cumulative GPA will go up to 2.15.
If the student gets 3 C’s the
cumulative gpa will still go up to 2.0.
Enough to graduate from UHM
within most programs and out of
probation.
Effect: The Current Policy on Repeating Classes
Versus the New Grade Replacement Policy (Continued)
Current
7.
A student who has 111 credits of A’s
and 9 credits of B’s and who
chooses to repeat the 3 classes and
earns 3 A’s the GPA remains
unchanged at 3.925. A student who
re-takes passed courses, the latter
grades are excluded from the
cumulative GPA.
Proposed
7.
The same student under the new
policy would increase the cumulative
GPA to 4.0. A mere .075 points.
Will Retention and Graduation Rates for UHM Slow
Down Due to the Grade Replacement Policy?
• There is no evidence that indicates that a
Grade Replacement Policy will increase
time to graduation or reduce retention
rates.
• Data from other Universities that have
Grade Replacement Policies suggests the
opposite – UHM has one of the lowest
retention and graduation rates when
compared with similar institutions and we
do not have a grade replacement policy.
Why is CAPP Proposing Replacing
Passing Grades (C to A) as Well?
• UHM graduation cumulative GPA is a 2.0.
• However, Mānoa has seven colleges/schools that require higher
than a C average GPA for entry or exit requirements. These are:
Architecture (3.0)
School of Hawaiian Knowledge (3.0)
College of Education (2.5)
School of Nursing (2.5)
School of Social Work (2.5)
School of Travel Industry Management (2.5)
CTAHR (2.5 to 2.8)
• Hence, the policy allows students to repeat any course rather than
only failing/lower grades – the policy is straight forward and is clear.
Grade Replacement Policies Exists on Other UH
System Campuses
• UH Hilo and Kapiolani Community College
both have grade replacement policies.
How does this then affect our system
articulation policies?
• We all use the same banner and star
systems for student information.
CAPP’s Recommendation
• Adopt the New Grade Replacement Policy and Report to
encourage our students to:
Succeed in every possible way including
graduation;
Continue on at UHM and help with retention;
Gain competency in any course;
Shorten time to graduation & thereby spend less
in tuition dollars;
Compete on the same level playing field with
students who graduate from Universities that
have grade replacement policies;
Perceive UHM as being student friendly.
CAPP Members
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Chizuko Allen, SPAS
Edoardo Biagioni, ICS
James Cartwright, Library
Tim Halliday, Economics
Cynthia Hew, JABSOM
Ken Kipnis, Philosophy
Jon Matsuda, Outreach
Katrina-Ann Oliveira, Hawaiian Knowledge
Hamid Pourjalali, Accounting
Sarita Rai, Study Abroad
Stacey Roberts, Education
Cindy Ward, English
Pavel Zinin, SOEST