The Learning Network Blog: Does Your School Hand Out Too Many A’s?

Concerns about concerns in the news for college students 13 and older.

According to an post in its own college paper, The Crimson, the most typical grade at Harvard is an A. On the Economix site, the reporter Catherine Rampell factors out that A’s have actually been the most widespread grade at Harvard not just just lately, but also for the last 20 years — and that an A-variety grade has also has been the most widespread grade awarded nationwide at colleges given that 1997.

Do you think A’s are the most typical grade at your college? Why or why not? In standard, how honest do you feel the grading is across teachers, ranges and topics at your school?

In “A’s Have Been Harvard’s Most Widespread Grade for twenty Many years,” Catherine Rampell writes:

In the last couple of days, reviews that Harvard’s most widespread grade is an “A” have now gone viral. But despite the shocked-shocked! tone of some of the coverage, this is truly very outdated information.

The last time A-variety (that is, the combination of A and A-) grades or their equivalent have been not the most common grades awarded at Harvard was 20 many years ago. That is in accordance to Stuart Rojstaczer, who tracks and aggregates grading data at schools, including some information going back to prewar times. (You may recall he previously answered your queries on grade inflation here).

He used the phrase “equivalent” due to the fact Harvard converted from a 15-level grading technique to a typical A-F system in the 2000s. Harvard defined its “15″ as an A and its “14″ as an A-, Dr. Rojstaczer explained in an e-mail.

Dr. Rojstaczer wrote that as of the 1989-90 academic 12 months, A- was the grade most generally awarded to undergraduates at Harvard. By 2000-01, A- was really close to becoming replaced by A (inside of 1.three percent) as the modal grade (that is, the grade that seems with the most frequency). The A-range mixture of A/A- became the modal grade (in comparison to B+/B/B-) in the 1994-95 academic yr.

Clutching your pearls but? Bear in mind that nationally, the A/A- blend has been the most common grade awarded nationwide at colleges because 1997.

“So Harvard was only about 3 years ahead of its time,” Dr. Rojstaczer wrote.

Students: Read through the entire article, then inform us …

• Do you think your school provides out A’s as well effortlessly in general? Why or why not?


• What do you think “A” function seems like? How is it various than A- or B+ function?


• Do you locate your teachers, for the most portion, to be honest graders?


• How essential to you is it to get straight A’s? Do you tend to get far better grades in the topics you like, or do you try out to regularly do properly across all subjects?


• If you have been a teacher, what sort of grading track record do you consider you would have? Why?

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College students 13 and older are invited to comment beneath. Please use only your very first identify. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish pupil remarks that consist of a last title.

The Learning Network Blog: Does Your School Hand Out Too Many A’s?