WCU retains COVID grading system

WESTCHESTER» West Chester University students will again have the option be graded conventionally with A’s and B’s if they choose or by an alternate method.

The university, with almost 18,000 students, is again using its original COVID-19 Alternative Grading Policy for the entire 20202021 Academic Year.

A WCU release states that as the pandemic’s intensity increases, many are coping with added worries and burdens.

“To lessen high levels of stress experienced by students due to this nationwide disruption, West Chester University is reinstating the original COVID-19 Alternative Grading Policy that it implemented last spring,” reads the release.

Effective immediately, this flexible COVID-19 Alternative Grading Policy will be applied to all semesters in the 2020-2021 academic year.

One week after grades have been posted for the semester, WCU’s grading policy will allow for undergraduate and graduate students to choose from two available grading options that will enable students to complete the semester successfully without fear of negatively impacting grade point averages (GPAs).

The announcement comes before students begin to prepare for final exams.

“The University understands that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues unabated and, in many ways, has increased in its disruption since the start of the fall semester. We realize that the stresses of this reality are causing students to be more anxious and stressed than ever before,” stated an email message sent to WCU students, faculty, and staff on Nov. 12 by WCU President Chris Fiorentino, Provost Laurie Bernotsky, Deputy Provost Jeffrey Osgood, and Chair and Vice Chair of the Curriculum and Academic Policies Council Francis Atuahene and Josh Auld.

“When we implemented the COVID-19 grading policy this past spring, we found that students ultimately ended up performing better when compared to previous springs semesters. Many of us believe that this was because the policy provided students with the opportunity to focus on learning instead of worrying so much about their grades.

“Our shared governance groups have come together to support the adoption and implementation of this policy, and we could not be prouder of the faculty and staff who worked to author this document,” according to the universitywide email. “From a procedural perspective, this was approved by the Curriculum and Academic Policies Council Executive Committee, a group empowered to make decisions between the body’s Assembly meetings.”