first year who received A, B, or C, at midterm and as their final course grade in the fall term declined in the spring term for each academic year. These results signify an intentional exploration of course selection and behavioral inputs that may attribute to the findings, specifically as it relates to the general education core classes and advising sequencing patterns to ensure proficiency.

Figure 2 Aggregated letter grade distribution for First Year Cohorts, fall 2013 through spring of 2016. First Year Cohorts Midterm-Final Grade Distribution

Figure 3 below shows the overall letter grade distribution trend lines across semester and year. Note that while the percentage of A's awarded has trended upward over this period, typically a higher percentage of A's is awarded in spring semester courses than in fall semesters. However, during the fall 2015 and spring 2016, the grades remained steady. A similar but reversed pattern trending downward, appears to hold for F grades, as more are awarded in fall than in spring semesters with a minimal difference for spring 2016.

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