Harvard Grade Inflation

Nearly half of all grades at Harvard University last year were A or A-minus, a steep increase from just 10 years earlier, according to a university study that follows reports of grade inflation at the Ivy League school.

The report, issued Tuesday, charted grades for the past 15 years and found that A's and A-minuses grew from 33.2 percent of all grades in 1985 to 48.5 percent last year. Failing grades, D's and C's accounted for less than 6 percent.

"With such a narrow range of grades available, faculty find it difficult to distinguish adequately between work of differing quality; they may also be unable to make such distinctions clear to students," wrote Susan Pedersen, dean of undergraduate education.

The dean's office has no official power over the faculty. However, the dean can direct the departments to study the issue and push for change.

The highest rate of A's was in small humanities classes, making up almost two-thirds of all grades given. Social science classes with 75 students or more were the toughest, with a third of all students receiving A's or A-minuses.

Some of the factors driving professors' generosity with grades were pressure to grade similarly to colleagues, fear of becoming known as a "tough grader," and pressure from students accustomed to higher grades, the Harvard study said.

The higher grades may also be deserved, as students work harder and are better prepared, it said.

In October, The Boston Globe reported that nine in 10 Harvard students graduated with honors, which takes at least a B-minus average in the student's major.

By comparison, honors went to 51 percent of graduates at Yale and 44 percent at Princeton. Other Ivy League universities also had a much lower rate of honors students than Harvard.

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