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Percentage of As and A Minuses at WWU, Winter Quarter, 2005

Many in the Western community have expressed concerns about grade inflation at WWU. One rumor recently circulating was that 41% of the grades given at Western, at least among the A-F grades, were As or A minuses. This rumor turned out to be true. Anyway, the ACC has once again decided to take up the matter of grade inflation, and as part of this effort I have produced the following report limning the sorry details that constitute undeniable evidence that grade inflation is indeed rampant at WWU. There is just something at least prima facie suspicious when we have several departments and programs in which the number of As and A minuses given is over 85% of the total. In one program, and not a notably small one, the number of As and A minuses in the undergraduate portion of that program approached 98%! Anyway, read it and weep.

A remark or two about sources, etc. The numbers of As and A minuses reported is taken right off the information supplied to me by the Registrar’s office, as were the GPAs reported in the righthandmost column. The sum of the As and A minuses is due to me, and may contain errors. The number of students was that reported by the Registrar, but I subtracted the number of students who were graded on other than the A-F system, that is, I subtracted the grades that do not go into the calculation of the GPA, viz, the grades of K, N, P, S, U, W and X. I then calculated the ratio of As and A minuses (= #As + #A- s/ the # students – the # students not graded A-F) in the penultimate column, and I hope there are no errors here.

Thomas E. Downing

Chair, ACC

May 11, 2005

Department/Program	# A	# A-	# A + # A-	# Students	% A/ A-	GPA

*Art History*
200 level	29	55	84	357 – 21	25	2.72
300 level	41	29	70	134 – 9	56	3.41
400 level	13	8	21	35 – 4	67.8	3.53
Subject	83	92	175	526 – 34	35.3	2.95
*Accounting*
200 level	66	47	113	505 – 44	24.5	2.78
300 level	45	15	60	243 – 21	27	2.85
400 level	35	22	57	186 – 13	32.9	3.15
Subject	146	84	230	934 – 78	26.9	2.88
*Adult & Higher Ed*
500 level	10	7	17	44 – 22	77.3	3.69
*Am Cultural Studies*
200 level	2	11	13	21 – 1	65	3.58
300 level	10	14	24	67 – 6	39.3	3.22
400 level	11	1	12	16 – 4	100	3.98
Subject	23	26	49	104 – 11	52.7	3.39
*Anthropology*
100 level	9	23	32	216 – 6	15.2	2.85
200 level	41	46	87	588 – 32	15.6	2.52
300 level	55	46	101	344 – 29	32.1	3.07
400 level	151	41	192	285 – 59	85	3.74
500 level	16	2	18	20 – 2	100	3.97
Subject	272	158	430	1461 – 128	32.3	2.93
*Art*
100 level	66	24	90	117 – 1	77.6	3.71
200 level	33	17	40	117 – 6	36	3.36
300 level	140	77	217	470 – 24	48.7	3.39
400 level	52	5	57	104 – 8	59.4	3.48
Subject	291	123	414	808 – 39	53.8	3.44
*Astronomy*
100 level	40	20	60	150 – 10	42.9	3.15
300 level	8	6	14	35 – 4	45.2	3.33
Subject	48	26	74	185 – 14	43.3	3.18

Department/Program	# A	# A-	# A + # A-	# Students	% A/ A-	GPA

*Biology*
100 level	86	79	165	434 – 19	39.8	3.16
200 level	32	25	57	276 – 17	22	2.83
300 level	67	48	115	373 – 17	44.9	2.96
400 level	61	38	99	277 – 56	44.8	3.23
500 level	1		1	19 – 18	100	4.00
Subject	257	190	447	1394 – 127	35.3	3.05
*Can/Am Studies*
200 level	15	14	29	179 – 4	16.6	2.79
400 level	3	1	4	6 – 2	100	3.93
Subject	18	15	33	185 – 6	18.4	2.82
*Cont & College Educ*
500 level	21	6	27	60 – 33	100	3.93
*Chemistry*
100 level	60	44	104	734 – 76	15.8	2.49
300 level	33	23	56	355 – 42	17.9	2.68
400 level	17	13	30	187 – 41	20.5	2.67
500 level	9	1	10	22 – 10	83.3	3.78
Subject	119	81	200	1307 – 169	17.6	2.58
*Chinese*
100 level	15	7	22	44 – 9	62.9	3.56
200 level	2	3	5	15 – 2	38.5	2.72
300 level	7	2	9	21 – 3	50	3.44
Subject	24	12	36	80 – 14	54.5	3.57
*Classical Studies*
200 level	171	33	204	280 – 12	76.1	3.70
*Communication*
100 level	48	178	226	312 – 7	74.1	3.52
200 level	64	53	117	255 – 26	51.2	3.31
300 level	31	48	79	199 – 47	52	3.42
400 level	29	19	48	159 – 45	42.1	3.37
Subject	172	298	470	925 – 125	58.8	3.42
*Computer Science*
100 level	121	80	201	448 – 47	50.1	3.27
200 level	27	16	43	99 – 7	46.7	3.23
300 level	42	16	58	219 -30	30.7	2.93
400 level	41	9	50	134 – 11	40.7	3.05
500 level	27	3	30	39 – 2	81	3.79
Subject	258	124	382	951 – 96	44.7	3.18

Department/Program	# A	# A-	# A + # A-	# Students	% A/ A-	GPA

*CommSci & Dis*
200 level	9	5	14	40	35	3.05
300 level	47	44	91	181 – 2	50.8	3.40
400 level	9	15	24	109 – 74	68.6	3.61
500 level	123	27	150	200 – 17	82	3.81
Subject	188	91	279	547 – 93	61.5	3.56
*Dance*
100 level	6	10	16	280 – 245	45.7	3.34
200 level	7	9	16	65 – 33	50	3.46
300 level	15	10	25	32 – 3	86.2	3.76
400 level	1	1	2	3	66.7	3.67
Subject	29	30	59	380 – 281	59.6	3.51
*Decision Sciences*
200 level	14	13	27	172 – 11	16.8	2.58
300 level	9	13	22	118 – 5	19.5	2.91
400 level	2		2	3	66.7	3.67
Subject	24	26	48	293 – 16	17.3	2.73
*East Asian Studies*
200 level	13	8	21	136 – 17	17.6	2.83
300 level	3	4	7	15 – 3	58.3	3.09
Subject	16	12	28	151 – 20	21.4	2.85
*Economics*
200 level	99	119	218	879 – 60	26.6	2.77
300 level	77	72	149	534 – 31	29.6	3.08
400 level	13	13	26	65 – 2	41.3	3.12
Subject	189	204	393	1478 – 93	28.4	2.90
*Educ Admin*
400 level	1		1	2 – 1	100	4.00
500 level	107	6	113	181 – 67	99	3.98
600 level	8		8	18 – 10	100	4.00
Subject	116	6	122	201 – 78	99	3.98
*Educ Foundations*
100 level	35	9	44	49	89.8	3.86
300 level	105	23	128	148 – 7	90.7	3.85
400 level	64	33	97	113 – 4	89	3.82
500 level	36	19	55	58 – 3	100	3.90
Subject	240	84	324	368 – 14	91.5	3.85

Department/Program	# A	# A-	# A + # A-	# Students	% A/ A-	GPA

*Appli Res & Dev*
500 level	44	8	52	57 – 3	96.2	3.92
*Geography*
200 level	92	56	148	648 – 24	23.7	2.88
300 level	78	42	120	249 – 5	49.1	3.38
400 level	23	8	31	68 – 11	54.4	3.46
500 level	8	3	11	21 – 1	55	3.63
600 level	2		2	9 – 7	100	4.00
Subject	203	109	312	995 – 48	32.9	3.06
*Elementary Ed*
300 level	183	6	189	604 – 371	81.1	3.84
400 level	285	65	350	664 – 247	83.9	3.81
500 level	3		3	3	100	4.00
Subject	471	71	542	1274 – 621	84.3	3.82
*English*
100 level	87	92	179	706 – 32	26.6	3.04
200 level	136	106	242	624 – 46	41.9	3.28
300 level	273	160	433	926 – 94	52	3.39
400 level	157	96	253	401 – 28	67.9	3.61
500 level	67	2	69	82 – 10	95.8	3.94
Subject	720	456	1176	2743 – 210	46.4	3.32
*Env Sciences*
100 level	67	59	126	447 – 19	29.4	2.96
300 level	34	20	54	156 – 10	37	3.28
400 level	67	38	105	254 – 67	56.1	3.48
500 level	29	6	35	43 – 7	97.2	3.91
600 level	3		3	13 – 10	100	4.00
Subject	200	123	323	913 – 123	40.9	3.19
*Env Studies*
200 level	39	29	68	248 – 14	29.1	2.89
300 level	82	26	108	157 – 16	76.6	3.73
400 level	184	60	244	431 – 85	70.5	3.66
500 level	29	4	33	34	97.1	3.94
Subject	334	119	553	870 – 115	73.2	3.45
*Engineer Tech*
100 level	32	44	76	123 – 8	66.1	3.41
200 level	20	39	59	203 – 23	32.8	3.14
300 level	92	51	143	354 – 32	44.4	3.22
400 level	47	26	73	182 – 22	45.6	3.35
Subject	191	160	351	862 – 85	45.2	3.25

Department/Program	# A	# A-	# A + # A-	# Students	% A/ A-	GPA

*Extended Edu*
300 level	2	3	5	8 – 1	71.4	3.49
400 level	44	3	47	93 – 38	85.5	3.84
Subject	46	6	52	101 – 39	83.9	3.80
*Fairhaven*
NA
*Finance*
200 level na
300 level	16	23	39	253 – 34	17.8	2.54
400 level	33	20	53	182 – 45	38.7	3.04
Subject	49	43	92	436 – 79	25.8	2.76
*French*
100 level	9	8	17	31 – 1	56.7	3.46
200 level	23	11	34	79 – 9	48.6	3.38
300 level	41	21	62	125 – 7	52.5	3.44
400 level	7	4	11	17 – 1	68.8	3.63
Subject	80	44	124	252 – 18	53	3.44
*Geology*
100 level	93	30	123	461 – 6	27	2.98
200 level	29	34	63	270 – 3	23.6	2.90
300 level	16	24	40	130 – 17	35.4	3.2
400 level	7	10	17	77 – 17	28.3	3.21
500 level	7	7	14	28 – 11	82.3	3.74
Subject	152	105	257	966 – 55	28.2	3.01
*German*
100 level	5	7	12	37 – 6	38.7	3.04
200 level	10	3	13	47 – 2	28.9	3.11
300 level	3	6	9	36 – 1	25.7	2.75
400 level	14	10	24	43 – 9	70.6	3.53
Subject	32	26	58	163 – 18	40	3.10
*Greek*
100 level	9	1	10	12 – 1	90.9	3.61
200 level	5	1	6	9 – 1	75	3.59
400 level	2	1	3	3	100	3.90
Subject	16	3	19	24 – 2	86.4	3.64

Department/Program	# A	# A-	# A + # A-	# Students	% A/ A-	GPA

*History*
100 level	51	48	99	1053 – 61	10	2.70
200 level	23	23	46	295 – 65	20	2.87
300 level	27	35	62	366 – 37	18.8	2.92
400 level	19	37	56	207 – 36	32.8	3.12
500 level	16	16	32	48 – 3	71.1	3.66
Subject	136	159	295	1969 – 202	16.7	2.83
*Health Education*
100 level	10	17	27	78 – 2	35.5	3.17
400 level	105	11	116	153 – 10	81.1	3.82
Subject	115	28	143	231 – 12	65.3	3.59
*Honors*
100 level	24	15	39	83 – 1	47.6	3.36
200 level	11	15	26	44	59.1	3.57
300 level	16	4	20	23	87	3.82
Subject	51	34	85	150 – 1	57	3.49
*Human Services*
300 level	122	94	216	444 – 120	66.7	3.54
400 level	232	137	369	759 – 147	60.3	3.41
Subject	354	231	585	1203 – 267	62.5	3.46
*Instructional Tech*
400 level	98	9	107	123 – 5	90.7	3.87