Grade inflation spurs Harvard changes

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) -- Harvard University, addressing concerns about grade inflation, is considering restoring a B as the average grade, and clarifying the meaning of each A on transcripts.

The Harvard student-faculty committee, which met this week, also is considering changes in the way honors are earned, including the elimination of the honors track for freshmen and sophomores, and the all-honors majors in some departments.

Last June, a record 91 percent of Harvard seniors graduated with some kind of honor on their diploma, The Boston Globe reported. About half the undergraduate grades last year were A or A-minus.

The Globe report on grade inflation led new Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers to asked faculty members last fall to review their grading standards.

Most Ivy League and top universities award honors only for outstanding work in a student's major. Some, including Yale and Princeton, cap total honors at about one-third of the graduating class.

One of the proposals being considered at Harvard would encourage professors to give more B grades by narrowing the grade-point gap between an A-minus and a B-plus. Another would include on transcripts the percentage of A grades received by students in a given course.

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