The Educational Policy Committee at Harvard University wants to change Harvard's grading scale to deter grade inflation. This announcement comes on the heels of a recent study that found over 50 percent of grades at Harvard were either A or A-minus and over 90 percent of students graduate with honors.
The committee drafted the proposal after departments reviewed grading practices, and it offered a solution that closes the gap between an A and a B by changing the calculation of a student's grade point average.
"The bulk of student work should be graded in the B-range," according to the report from the committee as quoted in The Harvard Crimson.
Currently, Harvard operates on a 15-point scale where 15 points are awarded for an A and 14 for an A-minus. Between letter grades, however, there is a one number break. A B-plus is thus worth 12 points.
The proposal would change the scale to an eight-point scale and would not skip a number between grades. It also would eliminate C-minus, D-plus and D-minus grades, leaving only C, D and E (the equivalent of an F).
Andrea Shen, spokeswoman for the Harvard faculty of Arts and Sciences, quoted Assoc. Dean for Undergraduate Education Jeffrey Wolcowitz who said the gap between grades was "overly punitive."
"If the difference between a B-plus and an A-minus were no different than between an A-minus and an A, [professors] might give more B-pluses, and students would be less concerned about getting B-pluses," Wolcowitz said in The New York Times.
The committee report also recommended printing the percentage of A-range grades given in the class next to the student's grade on his or her transcript. This way people can independently "assess the value of a given grade," the report said.
Shen added that the report is still only in draft form. Faculty committees will discuss it before putting it to a vote before the full faculty in order to implement the changes.
Reports of grade inflation are important to discuss, University Faculty Senate Chairman Robert Grainger said, but there is no similar study at the University because budget cut debates have taken precedence this year.
Grainger said the amount of grade inflation at the University would be "virtually impossible" to determine because grade distribution is inconsistent among departments.
"In the biology department, people are respectful of what it means to get an A and a B," he said.
Grainger added he thought a B was a good grade, but the deeper problem may be that students now do not agree.
"Students all feel like they should do well here and that's where the pressure comes," he said. "But I think professional [and graduate] schools know that [undergraduate] schools are different."
For example, Grainger said William & Mary is known for being stricter on grades, and its students still get into top professional schools.
Grainger said, however, that the issue of grade inflation "will be interesting to address after the Harvard study develops"
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