Hey academics and curious minds! Have you heard the latest from Harvard College? A new, 25-page report from the Office of Undergraduate Education just dropped a bombshell, concluding that Harvard’s current evaluation system is fundamentally "failing to perform the key functions of grading".

The Key Data Points:

The issue is severe grade inflation, which the report argues is “damaging the academic culture of the College”. More than 60 percent of grades awarded to undergraduates are A’s, a massive jump from only a quarter of grades two decades ago. The median GPA for the Class of 2025 is a staggering 3.83! Dean Amanda Claybaugh notes that the grading has become "too compressed and too inflated".

What’s Driving This?

Why is this happening? Faculty members are reportedly worried that handing out lower grades will lead to negative course reviews, potentially hurting their future job prospects. Compounding this, students have been exerting their own “increasingly litigious” pressure on instructors to raise their marks. This crisis gained national spotlight recently after a New York Times headline suggested that Harvard students could “Skip Class and Still Get High Grades”.

The Fixes on the Table:

To "restore the integrity of our grading", the College is actively exploring several reforms:

1. A+ Grades: Allowing instructors to award a limited number of A+ grades to undergraduates to better distinguish the very best students.

2. Transparency: Including the median grade for every course directly on a student’s transcript.

3. In-Person Exams: Encouraging in-person sit-down exams, which are seen as prudent in the age of Generative AI and tend to produce a broader distribution of grades.

4. Standardization: Working to standardize grading practices among different teaching fellows across sections of the same course.

It’s a massive challenge, but Harvard is finally taking steps to address this academic integrity issue! Stay tuned!