Students' Grades Continue to Rise

A report by the Commitee on Instruction indicates that even though "grades are tougher to get now than in the past, rather than easier," the number of Harvard students on Dean's List and graduating with honors is increasing.

The Committee's study is an attempt to answer such questions as, "Are we cheapening academic currency? Are the student's performances really that good?" They found that it is harder to do well now than in the past, since the "quality of our classes has been improving at a rate approximately twice that of the rate of increase in grade averages."

But over five years the percentage of students on Dean's List has increased about eight per cent (from 43 to 51 per cent), and the percentage graduating with honors has gone up 15 per cent (from 50 to 65 per cent). During the same period the freshman grade average has increased by only about one half of a grade sign--from C++ to B--.

Since most students are clustered around the cut-off point for Dean's List (between groups III and IV), a slight increase in grade averages means a sharp increase in the number of students eligible for honors programs. This explains why the comparatively small rise in freshman grade averages has led to the large increases in number of students on Dean's List and graduating with honors.

The Committee also found that there were often greater differences in grades among sections of some courses (such as elementary language courses) than among entirely different courses. According to the report, faculty members from departments involved attributed this to differences in the quality of instruction given by teaching fellows.

Grading Conformity

In the language departments, several course heads have tried to do something about this problem. Dwight Le Merton Bolinger, professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, said yesterday that the heads of courses should be responsible for watching the students' grades. He has tried to bring some conformity to grading, particularly through standardizing tests. In his courses, all students take the same midterms and finals, and the examinations are graded in committees.

Standardized

Robert H. Spaethling, associate professor of German, said his course also aimed at standardized grading through department exams, and group grading sessions. The final grade is an average of the objective exam grade (teaching fellows do not grade their students' papers) and the class grade given by the teaching fellow, and his grade can only differ from the exam mark by two notches (a half grade) unless the course head gives special permission for a greater dispcreprancy.

The report concludes, "In many ways it is gratifying to find that the change in grading that has taken place in the College's last decade seems to be a reflection of the change in ability and level of achievement of our student body."

This report was first prepared over a year ago, but has just now been released.