UNC to add median grade data to student transcripts

The average college student in 1961 earned about a 2.5-2.6 GPA.  Over the last decade that number has swelled to well over 3.0, even though college students studied (on average) 24 hours/week in 1961 as compared to only 14 hours /week in 2003.  In an effort to curb the many upward pressures on student grades, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, starting next fall, will include information about the median grade in each course a student takes, along with students’ rankings by percentile against their peers in every class:

The move to adopt “contextualized transcripts” was approved a year ago by the university’s Faculty Council. On Friday, the council approved additional legislation that defines what data will appear on the new transcripts.

Beginning in 2012, each student’s transcript will include a “Schedule Point Average” both for individual terms and cumulatively. That number represents the grade-point average for the average student taking the same courses. The Schedule Point Average will give an idea of how rigorous a student’s schedule is and how that student performed compared with others in the same courses. (Think strength of schedule for academics, not just basketball.)

Read the whole thing.

I discuss the importance of meaningful student grades in Thriving at College (Tyndale House Publishers, April 2011) as well as in an article to appear in the July-August 2011 issue of Modern Reformation.