Harvard University<\/a>, earning straight A\u2019s is about to get harder.<\/p>\nHarvard\u2019s Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday that it would limit the number of A grades awarded to undergraduates, adopting one of the most ambitious efforts by a major university to curb grade inflation. The decision was made by faculty vote earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The move comes after top grades became so common that some Harvard faculty argued they no longer reliably distinguished exceptional work. More than 60% of all grades awarded to undergraduates in recent years were in the A range, according to university data cited by faculty members who supported the measure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Harvard faculty voted to make their grades mean what they say they mean,\u201d members of the faculty subcommittee that proposed the changes said in a statement.<\/p>\n
They said the reform would ensure that \u201ca Harvard A grade will now tell students, as well as employers and graduate schools, something real about what a student has achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvard is not the first elite university to confront grade inflation. Princeton University adopted a policy in 2004 to limit A-range grades to 35% of those awarded, though it abandoned the system a decade later after criticism that it disadvantaged students in competition for jobs and graduate school admission.<\/p>\n
Nationally, grade-point averages at four-year public and nonprofit colleges rose more than 16% between 1990 and 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Education.<\/p>\n
Amanda Claybaugh, Harvard\u2019s dean of undergraduate education, called grade inflation a \u201ccomplex and thorny issue\u201d and a \u201cproblem that many people have recognized, but no one has solved\u201d in a statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist and Harvard psychology professor who has long criticized grade inflation, said in an email to The Associated Press that he was \u201cdelighted\u201d by the result.<\/p>\n
For too long, Pinker said, professors \u201cwho held the line with challenging material and high standards would see their enrollments plummet.\u201d Failure to address the issue turned \u201cuniversities into national laughingstocks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrade inflation forced a race to the bottom,\u201d he said, adding that the problem could only be solved through a university-wide policy.<\/p>\n
Beginning in fall 2027, instructors in letter-graded courses at Harvard College will be allowed to award A grades to no more than 20% of students in a class, plus four additional students. Other letter grades, including A-minus, will not be subject to a limit.<\/p>\n
Faculty also approved a proposal to use average percentile rank rather than grade-point average when comparing students for honors, prizes and awards.<\/p>\n
A separate proposal that would have allowed courses to opt out of the A-grade cap by switching to a satisfactory\/unsatisfactory system with a new SAT+ designation for exceptional performance failed.<\/p>\n
The new policies will be reviewed after three years. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is Harvard\u2019s largest school, comprising 40 academic departments. It is the home of Harvard College, Harvard\u2019s undergraduate program, and all of Harvard\u2019s Ph.D. programs. <\/p>\n
Max Abrahms, a political science professor at nearby Northeastern University who studies terrorism and international security, was among those outside Harvard who applauded the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen everyone gets an A there is no signal,\u201d he wrote on X, calling Harvard\u2019s vote \u201ca huge win for higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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