Oregon University Removes Failing Grades, Implements ‘Strength-Based’ Grading
A university in Oregon is replacing failing grades in the upcoming fall 2024 semester with a new “strength-based” grading approach that will prevent students from tanking their overall GPA.
Western Oregon University announced the changes in a press release, which claimed that the new approach “recognizes, embraces, and focuses on student competencies and achievements.”
“Beginning this fall term, the institutional academic grading regulation will reflect a grade range of A through D; the letter grades of D- and F will be replaced with No Credit (NC) for undergraduate students,” the press release read. “The grade of NC will be used in instances where the student does not meet the course learning objectives. The difference is that the grade of NC will not negatively impact student GPAs.”
Students who receive NC will be required to repeat the course and display subject proficiency. The new grading scale is reportedly being implemented after a comprehensive review found that “65% of freshman students who dropped out had earned at least one ‘F,'” according to Fox News. The university hopes that the new scale will incentivize undergraduate students to continue pursuing their degree after failing a course.
Vice President of Academic Affairs at the university, Jose Coll, told The College Fix in an email, “Our goal is to ensure that students who have met the core competencies and learning objectives graduate and provide every student an opportunity to be successful at Western Oregon University.”
Coll added that student’s GPA will become a “true reflection” of “success and course mastery,” once failing grades become obsolete at the institution.
Western Oregon University’s press release also notes that the “practice” of preventing failing grades from affecting GPAs has been adopted by other higher education institutions “such as Brown University while others such as Prescott College, New College, Hampshire College, and Evergreen College to name a few.”
“We believe in the growth, learning, and potential of all Western Oregon University students, and this grading standard lets everyone know that we plan to walk with them every step of the way,” President Jesse Peters said in the press release.
