{"id":195,"date":"2026-05-21T20:38:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=195"},"modified":"2026-05-21T20:38:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:38:42","slug":"harvard-caps-as-at-20-of-students-to-curb-rampant-grade-inflation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=195","title":{"rendered":"Harvard caps A\u2019s at 20% of students to curb rampant grade inflation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Harvard University will cap A grades at 1 out of 5 undergraduates next year in an effort to tame runaway grade inflation.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s arch receives stamp of approval from key arts commission<\/a><\/p>\n

Faculty members voted 458-201 on Wednesday to approve the grade cap. It will limit A\u2019s to 20% of students in each course starting in fall 2027, with room for up to four more at the professor\u2019s discretion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis matters for our students above all,\u201d members of the faculty subcommittee that developed the policy said in a statement. \u201cA Harvard A grade will now tell them, as well as employers and graduate schools, something real about what a student has achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ivy League school\u2019s faculty also voted 498-157 to use internal percentile rankings rather than grade point averages to determine future undergraduate awards and honors.<\/p>\n

Finally, the faculty voted 394-292 against a third measure that would have let courses opt out of the cap by substituting \u201cunsatisfactory,\u201d \u201csatisfactory\u201d and \u201csatisfactory-plus\u201d marks for letter grades.<\/p>\n

An October report found that 60% of all grades awarded at the top-ranked campus in 2024-25 were in the A range, up from 25% two decades ago.<\/p>\n

The report raised questions about Harvard\u2019s ability to distinguish exceptional work from high-achieving students. It also bolstered concerns that the perceived value of its degrees was declining.<\/p>\n

In response, the student-run Harvard Crimson newspaper reported that the faculty cut the share of A\u2019s to 53% last fall. But concerns persisted, setting up this week\u2019s faculty vote.<\/p>\n

Undergraduates broadly opposed the new policies. A February survey of 800 students conducted by the Harvard Undergraduate Association found that nearly 85% opposed the grade caps. More than 72% opposed the percentile rankings.<\/p>\n

Keri Collins, president of the conservative Harvard Salient journal, questioned on Thursday whether the changes would reward excellence or create an arbitrary \u201csorting system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis approach will not communicate which students have mastered a given subject matter, because that is not the goal,\u201d said Ms. Collins, a rising sophomore economics and classics major from Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

The move to curb grade inflation comes as the Trump administration and other top Republicans have accused Harvard, which is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, of woke policies that reward students for liberal groupthink rather than merit.<\/p>\n

Rep. Tim Walberg, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee, said he was \u201cencouraged to see Harvard finally taking the problem of grade inflation seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost recognize that grades simply don\u2019t hold the significance they used to,\u201d Mr. Walberg said in an email. \u201cHonest grading can only help institutions ensure graduates leave with the skills they will need to succeed in the modern workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some academics questioned Harvard\u2019s policy changes. They warned the new policies could do little to stop unscrupulous professors from maintaining grade inflation by limiting class sizes and giving more A- marks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a course has rigorous expectations and most students are meeting them, they should receive A\u2019s,\u201d said Jonathan Zimmerman, an education history professor at the University of Pennsylvania, another Ivy League school. \u201cBut too many professors have made their classes too easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Signaling effect\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Higher education insiders say Harvard\u2019s example could inspire other colleges to combat grade inflation, which they warn has become widespread the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrading at top colleges has long had a strong signaling effect on other institutions,\u201d said Nora Demleitner, the immediate past president of St. John\u2019s College in Annapolis, Maryland. \u201cIf other institutions follow Harvard\u2019s example, we can expect the upward pressure on grades at least to come to a stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

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She said it\u2019s \u201ctoo early to tell\u201d if Harvard\u2019s new policies will create a fair distribution of grades or an \u201cA- pileup\u201d of students receiving the next-highest mark.<\/p>\n

Veronica Bryant of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a liberal arts advocacy group, said a deeper problem could be that Harvard\u2019s courses have become unserious.<\/p>\n

Asked Ms. Bryant: \u201cIf the vast majority of Harvard students have achieved \u2018full mastery of the subject,\u2019 shouldn\u2019t their professors challenge them more?\u201d<\/p>\n

Professors noted that students nationwide have increasingly used course evaluations as leverage for easy A\u2019s. Tough graders with poor student reviews get smaller classes, fewer salary bumps and reduced career opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is documented that higher evaluations are significantly correlated with higher grades,\u201d said Renita Coleman, a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin. \u201cThese evaluations determine your yearly raise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2019Customer satisfaction\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Conservative calls to put the brakes on grade inflation have long fallen on deaf ears at elite campuses \u2014 but broader trends suggest that could finally be changing.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of colleges have closed, merged or purged liberal arts degrees in recent years to offset declining revenue, rising costs and falling enrollments. At the same time, technology and trade programs are booming as more teenagers question the value of degrees tied to low-paying careers.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, universities expect 15% fewer eligible applicants for this fall semester, due to fewer Americans having children after 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [Harvard\u2019s grade cap] has less to do with the Trump administration specifically and more to do with broader anxiety about the value of elite degrees,\u201d said Kaivan Shroff, a Harvard alumnus and senior adviser at the bipartisan Institute for Education.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployers and the public increasingly question whether grades and credentials still reflect real excellence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Gary Stocker, a former private college administrator who founded College Viability to evaluate campuses\u2019 financial health, said turning A\u2019s into participation prizes has added to a growing perception that college degrees mean little.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents and families ask themselves if the cost is worth a college process where there is limited differentiation,\u201d Mr. Stocker said. \u201cSo, they look at other options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others noted that Harvard insisted for years that students deserved all of their A grades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be interesting to see whether Harvard\u2019s action is the snowball that starts an avalanche or is the academic version of Custer\u2019s last stand,\u201d said Lance Izumi, an education analyst at the free-market Pacific Research Institute.<\/p>\n

Robert Weissberg, a retired University of Illinois political scientist and expert in pedagogy, predicted that student complaints could make Harvard\u2019s changes short-lived.<\/p>\n

\u201cCutting back on inflated grades will not help much so long as the university is driven by a customer satisfaction model,\u201d Mr. Weissberg said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Spencer Pratt\u2019s run for L.A. mayor gives a reality check to California\u2019s political establishment<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harvard University will cap A grades at 1 out of 5 undergraduates next year in an effort to tame runaway grade inflation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,6],"tags":[181,180],"class_list":["post-195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","tag-harvard-crimson","tag-harvard-university"],"yoast_head":"\nHarvard caps A\u2019s at 20% of students to curb rampant grade inflation - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=195\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harvard caps A\u2019s at 20% of students to curb rampant grade inflation - 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