CUE Talks of Grade Inflation

After a 90-minute discussion, the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) yesterday decided to approach departments for recommendations on how to combat grade inflation and compression at the College.

Earlier this fall, the committee had considered a transcript reform which proposed placing mean grades besides a student's course grade. The committee did not make a decision on that issue yesterday, but members seemed generally opposed to the idea.

Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 said at yesterday's meeting that some Harvard classes may attract more competitive students.

"I do think there are differences in the make up of classes," he said. "Some classes may draw a really outstanding group of students. A fixed curve would have all kinds of exceptions."

The committee, which is made up of student representatives and faculty members, will put together a set of questions about grading practices for departments to consider at the next CUE meeting in February.

CUE members considered several changes to the grading scale.

The committee discussed the addition of "cusp" grades for numerical values with no corresponding letter grades. The numerical value 13, for example, would be assigned a new grade in between a B+ and an A-. A B+ is worth 12 points on Harvard's 15-points scale, while an A-is worth 14.

CUE members expressed concern about how effective a change in scale would be.

"I'm not sure it's a scaling issue," said Susan Lewis, the director of the core program. "The same cluster phenomenon might occur."

"Without facing that problem, we just transfer to a new scale with no real solution," she added.

Other CUE members said they were worried that faculty members might be confused by a new grading system.

"Faculty are used to grading a certain way," said Howard A. Stone, associate professor for applied mechanics. "Most of us are beginning to understand the 15-point scale."

"If we go to a new scale, we start over with uncertainty," he said.

Transcript Reform Discouraged

Committee members quickly passed over the issue of transcript reform. Members said it was inherently difficult to decide what additions would prove helpful.

Some CUE members disagreed about which statistical measures of a course's average grade would be appropriate for the transcript.

The committee also discussed the use of increased publicity to counteract inflation, but decided that using the media would do little to solve the problem.

Justin C. Label '97, an Undergraduate Council executive who sits on the CUE, said he was pleased with the committee's decision to include the departments in the discussion.

"I think it's very important for the faculty to discuss this," he said. "The impression I got today was that there wasn't enough dialogue on these actions."

The council's student affairs committee also discussed the issue of grade inflation at its weekly meeting on Monday. Members "resoundingly" declared grade inflation was not a problem, said Label, who chairs that committee.

Still, Label said that "the Student Affairs committee [would be] willing to further consider the plan to add the 13, 9 and 5 as possible grades."