Allowing COVID to dumb-down American students even further.
Washington State University leaders on Wednesday announced changes to grading meant to alleviate some of the pressures of COVID-19, and also discussed student move-in and testing strategies to be deployed in the spring.
Toward the start of a virtual town hall hosted by WSU leaders, Provost and Executive Vice President Elizabeth Chilton said the school has created a “no record COVID” grade category, or NRC, that can take the place of a low letter grade. She said part of the purpose of the move was to allow students who struggled with remote learning some amount of leniency. An NRC grade would not be considered in calculations of academic progress that affect financial aid and other services.
“The way it works is that faculty assign letter grades as usual and then, students, once they receive their final grades, they can elect to change a C minus or below … to NRC grades,” Chilton said. “Students can do this for fall 2020, and we’re also going to do it for the full academic year — so spring 2021 as well.”
Chilton said some programs, like professional health sciences, are not able to use NRC grades because of accreditation issues. She noted in some cases, a low C may still be preferable to receiving no credit and advised students to discuss the option with their academic advisors before making a final decision.
WSU will change some grading because of COVID-19 | Coronavirus | dnews.com