Grade Data To Be Released

In response to intense scrutiny from the Harvard Faculty and the national media, the University will release a report today calling grade inflation a “serious problem” at Harvard but promising no immediate change.

The report contains grade data from the past 16 years, and shows that grade point averages rose about 7 percent from the 1985-1986 academic year to last year.

The report also shows that students in humanities courses tend to receive higher grades than those in the natural sciences, but those in the social sciences receive the lowest percentage of A-range grades.

But class size may be more of a factor than academic discipline—50 percent more students in small courses received A-range than those in large courses.

Roughly half of the grades distributed to undergraduates in recent years have been in the A-range, up from about one-third 15 years ago, according to the report, compiled by the Education Policy Committee (EPC) of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

Mean grade point averages rose a full point on Harvard’s 15-point scale over the same time period, rising from 11.7 to 12.7.

“Grade inflation has become a serious problem,” Dean for Undergraduate Education Susan G. Pedersen ’81-’82 wrote in the report’s introduction. “Steps should be taken to combat it.”

The report finds that though the upward grading trend has occurred across all academic divisions, it has been particularly prevalent in the humanities, reaffirming a common concern. About 54 percent of undergraduates in humanities courses received an A or A- last year, compared with 50 percent of students in the natural sciences and 43 percent in the social sciences.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 said the variance in grading among departments is a problem that must be addressed.

“The differentials between the Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities grades are hard to account for except as reflecting standards varying by division, which would not seem to be healthy or fair to students,” Lewis wrote in an e-mail.

While much of the recent media spotlight has focused on variances among academic disciplines, the report showed that class size may be a better indicator of grade distribution.

Grades for small courses are consistently higher than they are for large classes at Harvard.

While three out of five students in small courses—those with fewer than 25 students—received A-range grades last year, only two out of five students in large courses—those with more than 75 students—received equivalent grades.

In her introduction, Pedersen said members of the committee were “troubled” by grade inflation for a host of reasons.

“Faculty find it difficult to distinguish adequately between work of differing quality; they may also be unable to make such distinctions clear to students,” she wrote. “Are appropriate signals being given to students about ways in which their work can be improved? Are students being motivated to do their best work?”

Pedersen requested in her cover letter that department chairs evaluate and discuss the data and report back to her by Feb. 1.

Pedersen said the EPC plans to return to this issue in the spring with the hope of formulating recommendations that it will pass along to the Faculty by the end of the academic year.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.