• There are a variety of ways teachers determine and calculate grades for classes that are different, similar or even the same.
• Some students believe flexibility in grading policies can be unfair.
• Though flexible grading policies can be unfair at times, some teachers believe that considering good judgment when allocating grades is more effective than enforcing a stricter grading policy.

Although flexible grading policies may be a part of college institutions, students sometimes question the discretionary way in which teachers determine grades.

The university's undergraduate grading policy only states that Marquette uses the 4.0 grading system. That system corresponds with letter grades to determine a student's grade point average.

But evaluating and calculating a student's course performance falls under the jurisdiction of each teacher, leading to a gray area when it comes to assigning grades.

Joseph James, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, said this gray area often causes confusion on the student's part.

Some teachers, James said, focus solely on the examination aspect of teaching and grading, which places an emphasis on the importance of memorization. Other teachers tend to assess a student's effort and actual knowledge of the subject matter in daily classroom activities.

Anthony Perillo, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said he knows that it is important for teachers to have freedom in the way they teach their students. But, he said, the inconsistency in different teachers' grading policies can be unfair.

"I feel like people's grades in college depend more on what professor you have in a class than your individual performance in that class," Perillo said. "Two students can take the exact same class and put in the exact same amount of work, but they can still get two completely different grades from different teachers."

Perillo said that grades could be more fair if teachers of the same course use some exam questions from a standardized question bank for all class sections.

Melissa Shew, visiting instructor of philosophy, said the only possibility for equalizing grades would be to abide by a strict bell curve. Although this method would sufficiently equalize grades, she said it would also be unfair to students, penalizing them if the majority of students did well in a class.

"It seems to me that professors should use their good judgment when allocating grades, but need not be policed to submit grades that may not reflect the learning objectives of their courses," Shew said.

Shew also said she is well aware of the frustration experienced by students who have professors that are "hard" or "easy" when it comes to grading.

In order to encourage students to not just take "easy" classes, Shew developed this idea: Students would receive their transcripts along with a mark next to their grades, saying whether they performed better, worse or equal to the rest of the class they were in.

For example, one student may receive a B in an English course where the class section average was a BC. Another student may receive a B in a the same course, but different section, where the average was an A. The first student, who did better than the class section average, would receive an extra mark on the student's transcript to compensate for additional effort.

"The point of this reform is to encourage students to step out of their 'comfort zone' or to up their games in their education, and not to be penalized for doing so, as well as to address the insidious and persistent problem of grade inflation," Shew said.

Curtis Carter, professor of philosophy, said he supports flexible grading policies because he believes there are no fixed methods of grading that assure fairness or accuracy.

"The grading process needs to be tempered to the subject, the learning objectives and the personal style of the learning engagement between faculty and students," Carter said. "The important point is to focus more on the interactive process of learning rather than assessment.

"My approach to grading is to see it in terms of the learning process. If the students engage in the learning process whole-heartedly, the resulting grades are seldom ever a problem."