Faculty Council Minutes

January 13, 2005

Present: Catalano, Erb, McDaniel (recorder-in-turn), Tager, B. Walker, Young, DeWine, Scott, Debra Higgins (guest), Jeanne Arbuckle (guest)

1. The meeting was called to order at 12:30 pm.

2. The minutes of 12/7/04 were approved as amended.

3. Walker welcomed Tager (replacing Sibicky) to the faculty council this semester. Walker also announced changes to the emergency phone tree to up-date it for this semester. Brief discussion of the effectiveness of the phone tree followed.

4. Young and McDaniel agreed to develop a list of recommended materials for the Special Collections archive to begin collecting from the administration and the departments. They will give this list to Angela Burdiss, as she requested last semester.

5. Council considered a variety of issues pertaining to mid-term grades and the drop period. Some disadvantages to mid-term grades were that they consume significant faculty time and energy, that they are sometimes not a good reflection of the likely final grade, that they encourage among students a passivity about determining their own grades for themselves. It was also noted that our mid-term grade policy is one of the most extensive of those held by schools in our general category (see attached chart). One suggestion considered was to report only freshman grades and/or deficient grades (D’s and F’s).

On the other hand, Higgins noted, as director of the Academic Resource Center, that having all mid-term grades was useful in determining students’ performances overall, and whether there was only one class in which they were struggling. Higgins provided some statistical evidence to demonstrate that a significant percentage of students do improve their grades after mid-terms (see attached). Arbuckle noted the usefulness of mid-term grades in helping student athletes succeed academically. Council also discussed whether it is really that much more work to calculate all grades as opposed to only deficient ones or those of freshmen.

Council determined not to change the mid-term grading process immediately, but to continue monitoring its effectiveness, especially as the Strategic Plan’s goal to increase the quality of entering students begins to have an impact.

On the issue of the drop period, it was also noted that, at 10 weeks, ours is generally longer than those at institutions similar to us, and significantly longer than those at institutions we aim to emulate (see attached chart). Some disadvantages to the long drop period noted were the tendency of students to overload at the beginning of the semester because they know they will drop courses, the tendency of students who are performing adequately (at the B or C level) to drop because of preference for a “W” over a grade that might negatively affect their GPA, and the tendency of students not to work hard at courses they are struggling with because they know they will be able to drop quite late into the semester. It was noted that, when students drop in the 10^th week, this means a waste of both the students’ time and college resources.

Various solutions to these problems were suggested, including attaching the drop deadline to the mid-term grades, but these changes were seen as relatively small and unlikely to have a dramatic effect on the issues raised. Council decided again to continue to monitor the situation (again, particularly in regards to changes created by implementing the Strategic Plan), but not to make any changes at the present time.

6. Council set the agenda for the faculty meeting to be held on 1/24. Included on the agenda are consideration of the faculty handbook amendment to link promotion to the tenure process and a change in the General Education requirements to transform the Writing Intensive requirement to one in Writing Proficiency.

7. Council discussed and recommended appointments to the search committee for the Vice-President of Advancement, to be chaired by Sid Potash.

8. The agenda for next week’s meeting was set. Future agenda items include whether to continue to provide paper versions of amendments to the Faculty Manual, appointing faculty to the Crew search committee, asking Mary Bea Eaton to attend a Council meeting to discuss disability services, and whether to limit the Jewett speeches at graduation to one instead of two.

Withdraw/pass options and mid-term grades at regional colleges (OAC, ECC schools are included, along with a few extras…)

Matthew Young for Faculty Council, 7 December 2004

College	Semester	Withdraw (pass); notes	Mid-term grade policies, notes
Marietta	24 Aug-3 Dec	5 November (equivalent to 12 Nov, when compared against schools that start week later)	Mid-term grades due 13 Oct for all students
Baldwin Wallace	23 Aug- 4 Dec	25 October	No mid-term grade report
Bethany	30 Aug-14 Dec	7 September “Last day for adjustment of schedules without academic and financial penalty”	8 October “early warning” grades due
Denison	30 Aug-Dec 10	24 September for upperclassmen; 29 October for first-year students	Mid-term grades due 18 Oct
Geneva	30 Aug-10 Dec	8 November; freshmen can drop one class 29 November	Low grades due 21 October
Heidelberg	31 Aug-10 Dec	28 October	29 September for “appraisals” (D/F) for first year students; 20 October for remainder of student body
Kenyon	30 Aug- 14 Dec	Students are given a one time “withdraw late” privilege for their entire undergrad program. Students can withdraw from overload classes only after September 7 (and incur a $35 charge),	No mid-term grade reports
Mount Union	30 Aug-10 Dec	8 November	No mid-term grades
Muskingum	30 Aug- 10 Dec	9 November	Early assessment grades due 8 Oct (week prior to fall break)
Ohio Wesleyan	30? Aug- Dec 9	After 10 weeks (1 Nov), permissions granted by Academic Standards Committee, and based only on extenuating circumstances beyond the students’ control.	No-mid term grades
Westminster	31 Aug-13 Dec	5 November ($15 fee); first year students can drop one class on the same date ($15)	Mid-term grades for first-year students 28 October
Wooster	30 Aug-10 Dec	Can drop after six weeks (11 Oct) for extenuating circumstances—primarily health reasons. “Academic difficulty and/or poor grades in a course do not constitute an extenuating circumstance.”	No mid-term grades

Otterbein, Ohio Northern, WV Wesleyan on quarter system or approximate. Hiram College’s Byzantine online academic calendar yielded no data.

In addition to Marietta, only Denison and Heidelberg provide mid-term grade reports to their entire student body. Heidelberg makes an attempt to target their first-year students much earlier than the remainder of their student body.

Our withdraw/pass deadline is later, but not substantially later, than a number of schools that we compare ourselves with—Mount Union, Muskingum, Westminster, etc. Schools with better academic reputations have shorter withdraw pass periods (in some cases a month shorter than ours).

Midterm Grades

Debra Higgins, Academic Resource Center

461 Students, 31% of the student body, received a midterm grade of a D or an F

172 First-time Freshmen

31 Freshmen

124 Sophomores

90 Juniors

33 Seniors

6 CE

3 High school

2 Master’s

Final Grades

Of the 461 students at midterm, 226 Students improved their grades and received above a D or F for their final grade

Improved their grades/academic standing:

40%/69 First-time Freshmen

19%/6 Freshmen

56%/69 Sophomores

59%/53 Juniors

67%/22 Seniors

5 CE

2 High school

Only 45 Early Alerts referrals were made.

Only 127 Early Academic Warnings were sent.