Measuring Academic Achievement May Be Easier Said Than Done
I’ve been reading a lot about Harvard controlling the number of students who are awarded an ‘A’ grade. It seems too many are receiving that grade. A proposed cap on grading has students up in arms. Harvard’s faculty will vote next week on a proposal to cap the number of A’s per course, which now make up more than half of undergraduate grades. The plan also suggests getting rid of GPA as an internal metric, instead using percentile rank to calculate honors like cum laude recognition.
I read in the Wall Street Journal that students are protesting the proposed changes because it would increase stress, fuel competition and discourage academic exploration. I’ve got to ask: When did these become bad things?
An editorial in the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper, referred to the cap as a “crude” quota. A survey conducted by Harvard’s undergrad student government found that about 94% of students oppose the policy.
The proposal would cap the number of A’s per course at 20%, plus an additional four A’s to account for smaller courses with more variability. The cap would reset ‘A’ grading at Harvard to 2011 levels, says the proposal which applies to the undergrad college.
It seems that the catalyst for the change is a report that about 60% of the grades were A’s in the 2024-2025 school year, up from about 25% in 2005-06.
Arguments for Capping ‘A’ Grades
Harvard administrators and some faculty suggest that the goal is to fix the culture and challenge students to work harder in their coursework. The belief in some quarters is that Harvard’s reputation may be suffering because of grade inflation. After all, how is an employer to know whether the ‘A’ grades are truly earned, which could be indicative of a strong work ethic, or assigned by professors who want students to pump up their evaluations of instructors or avoid the inevitable stress students feel when not assigned an ‘A’ grade.
Arguments for Not Capping ‘A’ Grades
It could be that Harvard students are so smart that they earn the ‘A’ grade. There really is no way to know for sure. Perhaps the old adage applies here: “The Proof in the Pudding is in the Eating.” In other words, Harvard students will graduate, get good jobs, and then we’ll see whether they truly earned the ‘A’ grade, although it’s not an exact science. Personally, I don’t go along with this line of thinking. The reason is there are a lot of factors that go into whether a graduate will be successful in the workplace and grade performance is only one.
Joshua Greene, a Harvard psychology professor and member of the committee behind the proposal believes the current system discourages students from exploring unfamiliar subjects [where it may be more difficult to earn an ‘A’ grade]. Moreover, at Harvard, where A’s are so common, anything less is stigmatizing. It could affect students’ mental health.
I suppose another factor could be the psychological effect of earning a grade less than ‘A.’ How will it affect the psyche of such a student?
Student Views
One student leader says student opposition to the cap isn’t just about undergrads complaining about grades getting harder. He says students are more interested in addressing course engagement and rigor, especially in so-called “gems.” Gems are slang for classes that offer a light workload and lenient grading. We used to call them a “gut” or “fluff” course.
Administrators have responded to the backlash by tweaking the plan. Earlier this week, Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh announced a one-year delay, moving the earliest possible rollout to fall 2027, and introduced a new “SAT+” grade option designed to give instructors additional flexibility.
Turning to A- Grades
The proposal would not limit A-minuses; only A’s. Of course, this will make A minuses more common and, perhaps, less subject to ridicule by ‘A’ students. Greene is quoted as saying in defense of the A-: “We want to liberate students from the tyranny of the 4.0 and make them free to explore. We want to put the ‘us’ back in A minus.
Harvard may be making some progress already. The number of A’s last fall were 53.4% down from 60.2% in the prior academic year.
Trump is Everywhere
Harvard’s academic programs are under additional scrutiny because of the Trump administration’s investigations into the university and broader efforts to remake higher education in the U.S. Federal officials have asked universities to sign a “compact” that includes commitments to “grade integrity” and the use of “defensible standards” when evaluating students. No one knows where this is going, which is true of most things that Trump gets involved in.
My View
The talk about capping any grade is anathema to me. I taught at the university level for over 40 years. In some years, the students in my classes earned A’s at a higher rate than in other years. I graded them based on performance, not some contrived grading standards.
I can’t close this blog without addressing ethics. You probably remember Operation Varsity Blues where parents of rich kids made payoffs to get their kids into certain prestigious college. Back in 2019, five Harvard alumni were arrested and charged for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in a nationwide scheme to fraudulently secure admission for their children to top universities through millions of dollars in bribes and falsified standardized test answers. Another alumnus, who allegedly took standardized tests like the SAT and ACT in place of college applicants, was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. It would be interesting to know how many A’s they received from Harvard.
I think we have to remember that one indicator of a potentially valuable students ready to graduate and go into the working world is work ethic. By giving out so many A’s, Harvard is stifling that measurement indicator.
Blog posted by Steven Mintz, Ph. D, professor emeritus from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, on April 9, 2026. Find out more about Steve’s activities on his website: