Harvard University faculty have voted to significantly restrict the number of A grades awarded to undergraduates, adopting one of the most ambitious measures by a major institution to combat grade inflation. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced the decision on Wednesday, following a faculty vote earlier this month.
Why the Change?
The move comes after top grades became so prevalent that some Harvard faculty argued they no longer reliably distinguished exceptional work. According to university data cited by supporters, more than 60% of all grades awarded to undergraduates in recent years were in the A range. The policy aims to restore the value of an A grade for students, employers, and graduate schools.
Harvard is not the first elite university to tackle grade inflation. Princeton University adopted a similar policy in 2004, capping A-range grades at 35%, but abandoned it a decade later after criticism that it disadvantaged students in job and graduate school competition. 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.
Details of the New Policy
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. Faculty also approved a proposal to use average percentile rank rather than grade-point average when comparing students for honors, prizes, and awards.
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 to pass.
Reactions and Review
Members of the faculty subcommittee that proposed the changes stated: "The Harvard faculty voted to make their grades mean what they say they mean." They emphasized that the reform would ensure that "a Harvard A grade will now tell students, as well as employers and graduate schools, something real about what a student has achieved."
Amanda Claybaugh, Harvard’s dean of undergraduate education, called grade inflation a "complex and thorny issue" and a "problem that many people have recognized, but no one has solved." The new policies will be reviewed after three years. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is Harvard’s largest school, comprising 40 academic departments and overseeing Harvard College and all of Harvard’s Ph.D. programs.
