Decoding the JWU GPA Scale: A Comprehensive Guide

Understanding the grading system and GPA calculation is crucial for students at Johnson & Wales University (JWU). This article provides a detailed explanation of the JWU GPA scale, including letter grades, quality points, and special grade designations.

The Grading System

JWU employs a specific grading system to evaluate student performance. The grading system is as follows:

Undergraduate Grading System

Grade Range	Letter Grade	Quality Points
95-100	A+	4.00
90-94	A	4.00
85-89	B+	3.50
80-84	B	3.00
75-79	C+	2.50
70-74	C	2.00
65-69	D+	1.50
60-64	D	1.00
0-59	F	0.00

Graduate Grading System

Grade Range	Letter Grade	Quality Points
97-100	A+	4.00
93-96	A	4.00
90-92	A-	3.70
87-89	B+	3.30
83-86	B	3.00
80-82	B-	2.70
77-79	C+	2.30
73-76	C	2.00
70-72	C-	1.70
0-69	F	0.00

Special Grades

Besides the standard letter grades, JWU also uses special grades for specific situations. These grades have different implications for a student's academic record and GPA.

Audit (AU): Issued when no academic credit is granted. It doesn't count towards attempted or earned hours and isn't calculated into the GPA.
Challenge Exam (CX): Granted for designated courses upon successful completion of department challenge exams. It's not calculated into the GPA.
Grade Pending (GP): A temporary mark used when course requirements are still underway due to extenuating circumstances. It's not calculated into the GPA, but it automatically becomes an F if the requirements aren't met.
Incomplete (I): Issued when students can't complete course requirements due to authorized absences. The outstanding work must be completed within five weeks of the final exam, or the grade becomes an F. For S/U graded classes, an Incomplete becomes a U.
No Credit (NC): A non-punitive designation for students authorized to withdraw from a class or the university due to extenuating circumstances. It's not calculated into the GPA.
No Grade (NG): A temporary grade issued when the faculty member doesn't provide a grade. It's not factored into the GPA. If not replaced within one year, it automatically becomes an F.
Pass (P): Issued in pass/fail courses when a student achieves the equivalent of 60% or higher (a standard letter grade of D). It's not calculated into the GPA.
Prior Learning (PL): Credit earned for knowledge or skills mastered outside the classroom. It's not calculated into the GPA.
Satisfactory (S): Used for designated courses and not calculated into the GPA.
Unsatisfactory (U): Used for designated courses and not calculated into the GPA.
Withdrawal (W): Recorded when a student withdraws from a course after the add/drop period or is withdrawn from a culinary/baking & pastry laboratory course or a course with an experiential education component due to excessive absences.

Failure (F)

A grade of F is issued if a student fails to achieve adequate scholastic progress. The grade is recorded permanently on the student’s academic record. Upon successful completion of the course at a later date, the semester and cumulative grade point averages are adjusted to reflect only the passing grade. However, both grades will appear on the academic transcript.

Honors Option (H)

If a course was taken as an Honors Program requirement, the grade received will be followed by H (e.g., AH, BH).

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Understanding Credit Hours

Federal law mandates that accredited institutions comply with the federal definition of a credit hour. At JWU, a credit hour represents the amount of work reflected in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement. This equivalency approximates:

One hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work each week for approximately 15 weeks for one semester.
An equivalent amount of work for other academic activities, including laboratory work, internships, practice, studio work, and other academic work leading to the award of credit hours.

A credit hour is assumed to be a 50-minute period. In courses in which “seat time” does not apply, a credit hour may be measured by an equivalent amount of work, as demonstrated by student achievement.

Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance

Research suggests a correlation between self-efficacy and academic performance. Self-efficacy, the belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task, can be categorized as generalized or specific. Generalized self-efficacy is the optimistic self-belief in one's ability to successfully resolve a variety of challenges. Specific self-efficacy refers to a specific domain or task.

One study at a for-profit career college examined the relationship between self-efficacy and student success. The study sought to determine the extent, and in what manner, self-efficacy explains variation in first-term GPA, attendance, and retention after controlling for age and gender. Using the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the study found that general self-efficacy was correlated with GPA and incremented the explanation of variance in GPA after controlling for age and gender. Specific self-efficacy was also related to GPA. The study also found that attendance, retention, and GPA were related. Attendance had a correlation with retention and GPA. Retention was correlated with GPA.

Course Examples at JWU

JWU offers a wide array of courses spanning various disciplines. Here are a few examples:

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Variable-Credit Placeholder Courses: Used to maintain JWU student status while participating in exchange or affiliate programs. Students are enrolled in exchange university courses overseas.
Leadership of Sustainability, Community Engagement, and Global Citizenship: This course focuses on nonprofit management and utilizes a systems perspective to analyze complex factors contributing to community-based challenges.
Financial Accounting: Introduces students to the basic principles, practices, and theories of financial accounting, covering the identification, measurement, and recording of the financial effects of economic events on enterprises.
Managerial Accounting: Covers how accounting information is used internally for planning, controlling, and decision-making.
Accounting Software Applications: Provides hands-on experience with commercial accounting software.
Hospitality Accounting: Combines accounting theory and practices with the specialized requirements of hospitality service organizations.
Intermediate Accounting Theory and Practice: A continuation of introductory accounting courses.
Federal Taxation: A study of federal tax laws and treasury regulations and their application to the income of individuals.
Accounting for Governmental and Nonprofit Entities: Introduces the accounting procedures of local and state governments and the accounting standards of nonprofit organizations.
Cost Accounting: Focuses on the study of accounting in a manufacturing business and advanced topics.
Casino Accounting: Focuses on the characteristics of casino accounting by providing a history of the gaming industry.
Accounting Information Systems: Prepares accounting majors for technology issues and effective communication with IT personnel.
Fraud Examination: Covers accounting and legal concepts along with the procedures necessary for fraud detection, investigation, and prevention.
Hospitality Managerial Accounting: Presents how accounting information is used by management to analyze the efficiency and profitability of hospitality service organizations.
Auditing: Acquaints students with methods of verification, analysis, and interpretation of generally accepted auditing procedures.
Accounting Seminar: A capstone course for accounting seniors, analyzing contemporary issues in accounting and auditing.
Advanced Managerial Accounting: Explores the understanding and application of managerial accounting concepts needed to support effective and efficient management decision-making.
Advanced Auditing: Reviews various relevant auditing topics and enhances students' understanding of compilations, reviews, and other attestation services.
Tax Planning: Explores how to plan to utilize the tax system for financing company needs.
Integrated Marketing Communications: Covers the role of marketing communications in the overall marketing process.
Social Media and Public Relations: Introduces students to the emergence of social media influencers in public relations and marketing.
Content Creation for Media: Prepares students on how to create content across digital, social, and traditional media channels using a wide range of copy and design tools, including generative AI applications.
Advertising Copywriting and Art Direction: An introduction to the creative crafts of advertising.
Media Planning: Focuses on the process of media planning and buying with particular emphasis on traditional, digital, and social media.
Personal Branding: Designed to give business students an experiential personal branding and portfolio-building seminar in a simulated work environment.
Search Engine Optimization: Provides students with the knowledge and skills to develop effective search engine optimization campaigns with particular attention to integrated content marketing strategies.
Introduction to Animal Science: Explores how animals are utilized in agricultural production, recreation, and scientific research.
Animal Science Laboratory: Students expand their knowledge and develop skills in basic care requirements for domesticated and kept animals.
Domestic Animal Anatomy and Physiology: Covers the anatomy and physiology of domestic animals, based on cell, tissue, organ and system body structures.
Domestic Animal Anatomy and Physiology Lab: Introduces domestic animal anatomy and physiology of various systems through anatomical models and dissection.
Animal Nutrition: Focuses on nutrition of animal species used in modern agriculture, scientific research and companionship.
Applied Animal Behavior: Focuses on the application of ethology to understand and improve the systematic training of animals.
Animal Breeding and Genetics: Examines breeding methods and programs for domesticated animals.
Animal Diseases: Develops knowledge of the common diseases and disorders of animal species used in modern agriculture, scientific research and companionship.
Animal Management and Production: Emphasizes how management practices influence animal production.

Reliability and Validity in Measurement

In the context of academic assessment and research, it is important to understand the concepts of reliability and validity. Reliability refers to the consistency or dependability of a measure. Validity refers to the extent to which a measure accurately represents the underlying construct it is supposed to measure.

Reliability

Reliability is the degree to which the measure of a construct is consistent or dependable. In other words, if we use this scale to measure the same construct multiple times, do we get pretty much the same result every time, assuming the underlying phenomenon is not changing? An example of an unreliable measurement is people guessing your weight. Quite likely, people will guess differently, the different measures will be inconsistent, and therefore, the ‘guessing’ technique of measurement is unreliable. Note that reliability implies consistency but not accuracy.

There are several types of reliability:

Inter-rater reliability: A measure of consistency between two or more independent raters (observers) of the same construct.
Test-retest reliability: A measure of consistency between two measurements (tests) of the same construct administered to the same sample at two different points in time.
Split-half reliability: A measure of consistency between two halves of a construct measure.
Internal consistency reliability: A measure of consistency between different items of the same construct.

Validity

Validity, often called construct validity, refers to the extent to which a measure adequately represents the underlying construct that it is supposed to measure. Validity can be assessed using theoretical or empirical approaches, and should ideally be measured using both approaches.

There are several types of validity:

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Face validity: Refers to whether an indicator seems to be a reasonable measure of its underlying construct ‘on its face’.
Content validity: An assessment of how well a set of scale items matches with the relevant content domain of the construct that it is trying to measure.
Convergent validity: Refers to the closeness with which a measure relates to (or converges on) the construct that it is purported to measure.
Discriminant validity: Refers to the degree to which a measure does not measure (or discriminates from) other constructs that it is not supposed to measure.
Concurrent validity: Assessed based on whether a given measure relates well with a current criterion.
Predictive validity: Assessed based on whether a given measure relates well with a future criterion. Predictive validity is the degree to which a measure successfully predicts a future outcome that it is theoretically expected to predict.

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