Harvard: Nearly half of grades in 2000 were A's
November 22, 2001 Posted: 9:32 AM EST (1432 GMT)
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) -- Nearly half of all grades at Harvard University last year were A or A-minus, a steep increase from just 10 years earlier, according to a university study that follows reports of grade inflation at the Ivy League school.
The
report, issued Tuesday, charted grades for the past 15 years and found that A's
and A-minuses grew from 33.2 percent of all grades in
1985 to 48.5 percent last year. Failing grades, D's and C's accounted for less
than 6 percent. "With such a narrow range of grades available, faculty find
it difficult to distinguish adequately between work of differing quality;
they may also be unable to make such distinctions clear to students,"
wrote Susan Pedersen, dean of undergraduate education. The dean's
office has no official power over the faculty. However, the dean can direct
the departments to study the issue and push for change. The highest
rate of A's was in small humanities classes, making up almost two-thirds
of all grades given. Social science classes with 75 students or more were
the toughest, with a third of all students receiving A's or A-minuses.
Some
of the factors driving professors' generosity with grades were pressure to grade
similarly to colleagues, fear of becoming known as a "tough
grader," and pressure from students accustomed to higher grades, the
Harvard study said. The higher grades may also be deserved, as students work
harder and are better prepared, it said. In October,
The
Boston Globe reported that nine in 10 Harvard students graduated with
honors, which takes at least a B-minus average in the student's major. By
comparison, honors went to 51 percent of graduates at Yale and 44 percent at
Princeton. Other Ivy League universities also had a much lower rate of
honors students than Harvard.
Grade inflation spurs Harvard changes
April 19, 2002 Posted: 1:23 PM EDT (1723 GMT)
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) -- Harvard University, addressing concerns about
grade inflation, is considering restoring a B as the average grade, and
clarifying the meaning of each A on transcripts.
The Harvard student-faculty committee, which met this week, also is considering changes in the way honors are earned, including the elimination of the honors track for freshmen and sophomores, and the all-honors majors in some departments.
Last June, a record 91 percent of Harvard seniors graduated with some kind of honor on their diploma, The Boston Globe reported. About half the undergraduate grades last year were A or A-minus.
The Globe report on grade inflation led new Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers to asked faculty members last fall to review their grading standards.
Most Ivy League and top universities award honors only for outstanding work in a student's major. Some, including Yale and Princeton, cap total honors at about one-third of the graduating class.
One of the proposals being considered at Harvard would
encourage professors to give more B grades by narrowing the grade-point gap
between an A-minus and a B-plus. Another would include on transcripts the
percentage of A grades received by students in a given course.
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