If outsiders do not trust the grades on the transcript, they may require other demonstrations of student learning. There is at least some anecdotal evidence that there is increasing disparity between the average grades in various disciplines and that students are avoiding disciplines with the reputation for more rigorous grading standards. Some discussion about grade expectations for our students would help faculty determine their own grading policy. Still other institutions have experimented with alterations to their traditional forms of grading in the hope on conveying more accurately the nature of student performance. The use of a more finely tuned grading scale.
Faculty are more likely to move a borderline student up to the next higher grade with such a system.
The use of the plus and minus grading system can address this inflationary tendency as well as more accurately measure relative student performance. The use of the overall class grade in the transcript. A number of universities in recent years have attempted to provide some perspective on the grades achieved by individual students by annotating the typical transcript. One variation is to note along with the individual grade, the mean or median grade for the class and the number of students in the class. Another variation is to use a grading system whereby the grade for the class is composed of two parts.