Harvard Professors Begin To Crack Down on A Grades

Harvard University faculty doled out fewer A grades during the fall semester, an early sign that professors are taking seriously a stunning report on pervasive grade inflation at the Ivy League school.On Monday, the dean of undergraduate education, Amanda Claybaugh, shared with faculty that the percentage of flat As awarded in the fall semester fell to 53.4 percent — a 7 percentage point drop from the 60.2 percent recorded during the previous academic year, according to an email obtained by the Crimson.In her email, Ms. Claybaugh sought to assuage professors’ concerns that they would be penalized by the school if their crackdown on grade inflation prompted students to leave negative feedback on their teacher evaluations, known as Q scores.“I know this change wasn’t easy,” Ms. Claybaugh wrote. “Some of you report that your Q scores went down, and you worry about the effect this might have on reviews or enrollments.” She noted, however, that the school would be looking at Q scores “alongside difficulty scores and median grades” and that administrators “recognize and appreciate your efforts to restore rigor.”A spokesman for Harvard’s undergraduate faculty clarified in a statement, however, that the College had not “expressly instructed” faculty to rein in the high marks. “Faculty have autonomy over grading for their respective courses,” he wrote.The fall semester grade data comes months after Ms. Claybaugh released a report that shed light on the alarming extent of grade inflation at Harvard. She found that more than 60 percent of grades awarded to Harvard undergraduates during the 2024 to 2025 academic year were A’s — up from 40 percent a decade ago and less than 25 percent two decades ago.Harvard’s grade inflation follows a steady upward trajectory spanning more than a century. According to data compiled by the Crimson, the average GPA was 2.4 in 1914, rising to 2.55 by 1950 and reaching 3.17 by 1985. As the Crimson’s author observed, “Looking at a graph of student GPAs since 1889 is sort of like looking at a graph of Harvard’s endowment: It only goes up.”In her October report, Ms. Claybaugh warned that the school’s grading system “is too compressed and too inflated” and “more importantly,” it “no longer performs its primary functions and is undermining our academic mission.” She expressed concern that the rampant inflation was “damaging the academic culture of the college more generally.”Among her list of suggested policy reforms, Ms. Claybaugh floated the idea of permitting faculty to award a limited number of A+s in each course, on the theory that it would “increase the information our grades provide by distinguishing the very best students.” The school does not appear to have taken up that suggestion.The investigation into Harvard’s easy A issue prompted a cascade of uproar from the university’s students, some of whom voiced their upset in an article in the Crimson. The piece drew on interviews with approximately 20 Harvard students who collectively argued that the report “misrepresented their academic experience” and that “stricter grading could heighten stress without improving learning.”“The whole entire day, I was crying,” one freshman shared. “I skipped classes on Monday, and I was just sobbing in bed because I felt like I try so hard in my classes, and my grades aren’t even the best.” She added that the report’s findings “just felt soul-crushing.”Another first-year student said the report made her question her decision to attend Harvard altogether. “I killed myself all throughout high school to try and get into this school,” she explained. “I was looking forward to being fulfilled by my studies now, rather than being killed by them.”

Harvard Professors Begin To Crack Down on A Grades

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