Implementation and Evaluation of Three Approaches for Maintaining Student GPAs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 global pandemic quickly shifted in-person education systems to online learning environments due to the enforcement of public isolation and social distancing. Decision makers applied various measures to maintain the education process and performance of students. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the Ministry of Education (MoE) stated that all educational institutions must ensure the maintenance of students' grade point averages (GPAs) during pandemic semesters, requiring they do not fall below their cumulative GPA from the previous semester. In turn, each university had to identify and apply an appropriate approach to solve this dilemma. Ultimately, the revolved, involved, and evolved approaches were implemented. This study examines the three approaches via real data from the student information system (SIS) at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (around 111,000 grades for approximately 20,000 students). The results were evaluated and compared in terms of effectiveness, precision, impact, and efficiency. This study explicitly demonstrates significant evidence in favor of the revolved approach as the most significant for maintaining student GPAs with minor grade inflation (2%+). This approach can, therefore, be adopted by SIS during other exceptional circumstances. This study is considered a precedent in its field; however, future research should study implicit challenges and opportunities related to student records.