|
77
DOCUMENTS OF THE GENERAL FACULTY
CHANGES IN POLICIES CONCERNING
GRADES AWARDED WITH CREDIT BY EXAMINATION
Robert A. Duke (Music), Chair of the Educational
Policy Committee for 1998-99, has filed with the Secretary of the Faculty
Council the recommendation from the Educational Policy Committee on
changes in policies concerning grades awarded with credit by examination
set forth below. The Secretary has classified this recommendation as
general legislation. The 10-day circulation rule for general
legislation will be satisfied on November 12, 1999.
Notice is hereby given that this legislation will be presented to
the Faculty Council for action at its meeting on November 15, 1999.
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The Faculty Council
Posted on the Faculty Council web site (www.utexas.edu/faculty/council/)
on October 29, 1999. Paper copies are available on request from the
Office of the General Faculty, FAC 22, F9500.
78
CHANGES IN POLICIES CONCERNING
GRADES AWARDED WITH CREDIT BY EXAMINATION
RECOMMENDATIONS:
- That the University of Texas at Austin continue
to award credit by examination either with letter grades or with the
symbol CR but that letter grades for credit by examination not be
counted in a student's UT Austin grade point average.
- That the catalog and other official publications of UT Austin be
amended to reflect this change in policies.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
This proposal is based on the premise that
a student's UT Austin grade point average should be a record of accomplishment
in coursework completed at the University. But current UT Austin policies
concerning grades awarded with credit by examination permit a student
to elect to have examination credit recorded either with a letter grade
(A, B, or C) or with the credit-only symbol (CR), a choice that the student
may make after learning of his or her performance on a given examination.
UT Austin grade point averages are used primarily to determine whether
a student's academic progress is satisfactory and whether a student is
eligible for academic honors, decisions that should be based on a student's
performance in coursework taken at UT Austin. A grade point average computed
only for courses taken at the University would also aid academic advisers
by reflecting more accurately a student's performance at the University.
NATURE OF CREDIT BY EXAMINATION:
At UT Austin credit by examination is used to validate and recognize
college-level learning that has not occurred under the direction and supervision
of UT Austin faculty members, and this seems entirely appropriate. Knowledge
and skills that are comparable to those taught in college-level courses
and are documented by student performance in rigorous examinations should
be awarded credit that appears on a student's transcript. But credit earned
by examination does not reflect a student's performance in coursework
at UT Austin. This fact was recognized when the UT Austin faculty enacted
legislation in 1974 stating that credit by examination is not credit earned
in residence.
79
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CREDIT BY EXAMINATION AT UT AUSTIN:
TABLE 1
NUMBER OF 7,085 FIRST-TIME FRESHMEN WHO WERE ELIGIBLE FOR CREDIT
BY EXAMINATION
(CBE) IN EACH COURSE AS A RESULT OF A QUALIFYING SCORE ON A
TEST:
SUMMER AND FALL 1997-1998
|
|
UT Austin Course
|
No. of Freshmen Eligible
for CBE
|
No. of Semester Hours for
which eligible
|
UT Austin Course
|
No. of Freshmen Eligible
for CBE
|
No. of Semester Hours for
which eligible
|
UT Austin Course
|
No. of Freshmen Eligible
for CBE
|
No. of Semester Hours for
which eligible
|
|
ARH 302
|
27
|
81
|
HEB 506
|
6
|
30
|
PHY 103M
|
8
|
8
|
|
ARH 303
|
6
|
18
|
HEB 507
|
7
|
35
|
PHY 103N
|
3
|
3
|
|
ART 302K
|
41
|
123
|
HIN 604
|
6
|
36
|
PHY 309K
|
2
|
6
|
|
BIO 302
|
426
|
1,278
|
HIN 612
|
4
|
24
|
PHY 309L
|
2
|
6
|
|
BIO 303
|
150
|
450
|
HIS 309K
|
108
|
324
|
PHY 316
|
74
|
222
|
|
BIO 304
|
426
|
1,278
|
HIS 309L
|
109
|
327
|
PHY 116L
|
74
|
74
|
|
C S 304P
|
127
|
381
|
HIS 315K
|
448
|
1,344
|
PHY 317K
|
1
|
3
|
|
C S 315
|
50
|
150
|
HIS 315L
|
447
|
1,341
|
PHY 117M
|
1
|
1
|
|
CH 301
|
232
|
696
|
I B 350
|
1
|
3
|
POR 604
|
1
|
6
|
|
CH 302
|
138
|
414
|
ITL 506
|
2
|
10
|
POR 612
|
1
|
6
|
|
CH 204
|
28
|
56
|
ITL 507
|
2
|
10
|
PRS 506
|
2
|
10
|
|
CH 304K
|
4
|
12
|
ITL 312K
|
1
|
3
|
PRS 507
|
2
|
10
|
|
CH 305
|
1
|
3
|
ITL 312L
|
1
|
3
|
PRS 312K
|
2
|
6
|
|
CHI 506
|
163
|
815
|
JPN 506
|
16
|
80
|
PRS 312L
|
2
|
6
|
|
CHI 507
|
153
|
765
|
JPN 507
|
12
|
60
|
PSY 301
|
112
|
336
|
|
CHI 412K
|
141
|
564
|
JPN 412K
|
5
|
20
|
RUS 506
|
21
|
105
|
|
CHI 412L
|
129
|
516
|
JPN 412L
|
3
|
12
|
RUS 507
|
20
|
100
|
|
E 306
|
2,414
|
7,242
|
KOR 506
|
23
|
115
|
RUS 312K
|
14
|
42
|
|
E 316K
|
1,613
|
4,839
|
KOR 507
|
22
|
110
|
RUS 312L
|
13
|
39
|
|
E E 302
|
1
|
3
|
KOR 412K
|
19
|
76
|
RUS 218A
|
14
|
14
|
|
ECO 304K
|
113
|
339
|
KOR 412L
|
18
|
72
|
RUS 218B
|
13
|
13
|
|
EDP 371
|
55
|
165
|
LAT 507
|
39
|
195
|
RUS 324
|
2
|
6
|
|
FIN 354
|
1
|
3
|
LAT 311
|
32
|
96
|
RUS 326
|
2
|
6
|
|
FR 506
|
336
|
1,680
|
LAT 312K
|
22
|
66
|
RUS 327
|
2
|
6
|
|
FR 507
|
210
|
1,050
|
LAT 316
|
12
|
36
|
RUS 228A
|
2
|
2
|
|
FR 312K
|
144
|
432
|
M 301
|
19
|
57
|
RUS 228B
|
2
|
2
|
|
FR 312L
|
104
|
312
|
M 305G
|
3,466
|
10,398
|
SOC 302
|
19
|
57
|
|
FR 320E
|
10
|
30
|
M 408C
|
843
|
3,372
|
SPN 506
|
1,778
|
8,890
|
|
FR 120M
|
6
|
6
|
M 408D
|
1
|
4
|
SPN 507
|
1,212
|
6,060
|
|
FR 322E
|
2
|
6
|
M 308K
|
299
|
897
|
SPN 312K
|
966
|
2,898
|
|
FR 326L
|
1
|
3
|
M 308L
|
299
|
897
|
SPN 3126
|
750
|
2,250
|
|
GER 506
|
112
|
560
|
MAL 506
|
1
|
5
|
SPN 315N
|
38
|
114
|
|
GER 507
|
47
|
235
|
MAL 507
|
1
|
5
|
SPN 319
|
324
|
972
|
|
GER 312K
|
32
|
96
|
MAL 312K
|
1
|
3
|
SPN 325K
|
3
|
9
|
|
GER 312L
|
17
|
51
|
MAL 312L
|
1
|
3
|
SPN 326L
|
2
|
6
|
|
GER 328
|
7
|
21
|
MIS 310
|
7
|
21
|
SPN 327
|
203
|
609
|
|
GK 507
|
1
|
5
|
MUS 605A
|
3
|
9
|
SWE 604
|
1
|
6
|
|
GK 310
|
1
|
3
|
PHY 302K
|
429
|
1,287
|
SWE 612
|
1
|
6
|
|
GK 310K
|
1
|
3
|
PHY 302L
|
350
|
1,050
|
T D 412C
|
2
|
8
|
|
GK 311
|
1
|
3
|
PHY 102M
|
429
|
429
|
T D 212F
|
5
|
10
|
|
GOV 310L
|
773
|
2,319
|
PHY 102N
|
350
|
350
|
T D 212G
|
1
|
2
|
|
HEB 312K
|
6
|
18
|
PHY 303K
|
8
|
24
|
TOTALS
|
22,168*
|
74,313
|
|
HEB 312L
|
5
|
15
|
PHY 303L
|
3
|
9
|
*This total is the number of courses
for which the 7,085 first-time freshmen were eligible.
80
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TABLE 2
NUMBERS OF COURSES FOR WHICH 7,085 FIRST-TIME
FRESHMEN WERE ELIGIBLE FOR
CREDIT BY EXAMINATION AS A RESULT OF QUALIFYING SCORES ON TESTS:
SUMMER AND FALL 1997-1998
|
|
Types of Courses
|
Number of Courses
|
Semester Hours of Credit
|
Humanities and
Fine Arts
|
11,426
|
43,001
|
Natural Sciences
and Engineering
|
8,244
|
23,818
|
Social and Behavioral
Sciences and Business Administration
|
2,498
|
7,494
|
|
TOTAL AMOUNTS
|
22,168
|
74,313
|
|
AVERAGE (MEAN) AMOUNTS
|
3.13
|
10.49
|
|
TABLE 3
EFFECTS OF CREDIT BY EXAMINATION (CBE) ON U.T. AUSTIN GRADE
POINT AVERAGES
OF 6,890 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WHO WERE GRADUATED IN CALENDAR
1994
|
| How CBE was recorded: |
| |
Some CBE was
recordedwith CR symbol |
Some CBE was
recordedwith letter grades |
| Number of graduates |
2,392 (35%)
|
3,381 (49%)
|
| Average
(median) amounts of CBE |
5 semester hours
|
8 semester hours
|
| Effects
of CBE on cumulative grade point averages over all coursework: |
| |
With CBE letter grades excluded
from GPAs
|
With CBE letter grades included
in GPAs
|
| Highest
GPA |
4.0
|
4.0
|
| Median
GPA |
2.9
|
3.0
|
| Lowest
GPA |
1.6
|
1.9
|
| Number of students with
GPA less than 2.0 |
59 (1%)
|
1 (less than 0.1%)
|
81
POLICIES AT OTHER MAJOR UNIVERSITIES:
Credit by examination policies published in recent catalogs of
the following 44 major public and private universities were examined:
|
U. Arizona
Calif. Inst. of Tech
U. Calif. at Berkeley
U. Calif. at Los Angeles
Carnegie-Mellon U.
U. Colorado at Boulder
Cornell U.
Duke U.
U. Florida
Harvard U
U. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Indiana U.
U. Iowa
Iowa State U.
U. Kansas
|
Louisiana State
U.
U. Maryland
Mass. Inst. of Tech
U. Michigan
Michigan State U.
U. Minnesota
U. Missouri
U. Nebraska at Lincoln
U. North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Northwestern U.
U. Oklahoma
Oklahoma State U.
Ohio State U.
U. Oregon
Penn. State U.
|
U. Pittsburgh
Princeton U.
Purdue U.
Rice U.
Rutgers U.
Stanford U.
State U. of New York at Buffalo
Texas A&M U.
U. Toronto
Tulane U.
U. Virginia
U. Washington
U. Wisconsin
Yale U.
|
The policies at those 44 major universities
are summarized in Table 4 below:
|
TABLE 4
HOW MUCH CREDIT BY EXAMINATION CAN BE AWARDED WITH LETTER GRADES,
AND ARE THOSE
LETTER GRADES INCLUDED IN GRADE POINT AVERAGES?
|
| |
Public Universities
|
Non-Public Universities
|
Total |
| None with letter grades |
25
|
13
|
38 (86%) |
| Some with letter grades that are
not in GPAs |
2*
|
0
|
2 (5%) |
| Some with letter grades that are
in GPAs |
1**
|
0
|
1 (2%) |
| All with letter grades |
0
|
0
|
0 |
| No information in catalogue |
2
|
1
|
3 (7%) |
|
TOTAL
|
30
|
14
|
44 (100%) |
* Indiana University (only if test score
was high enough for a grade of A) and University of Kansas (only
if departmental tests were used).
** University of Maryland (only if departmental tests were used).
In summary, none of those 44 universities record letter grades for
all credit by examination courses, only three of them record letter
grades for any CBE courses, and only one of those three includes the
CBE letter grades in students' grade point averages.
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