![\"SOPHIE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/web1_HARVARD-FOREIGN-STUDENTSsm.jpg\")
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SOPHIE PARK \/ NEW YORK TIMES \/ MAY 1<\/p>\n
Harvard Business School in Boston <\/p>\n
Harvard University is proposing to limit the number of top grades awarded to undergraduate students, responding to concerns that grade inflation may weaken the meaning of a degree from the school. <\/p>\n
The plan would cap A grades at 20% of undergraduates, with some flexibility, across courses and departments if it\u2019s approved by faculty ahead of the 2026-2027 school year, Amanda Claybaugh, dean of undergraduate education, said in an email on Friday that included a 19-page outline of the plan.<\/p>\n
The cap wouldn\u2019t include A-minus marks and the plan would also allow four extra A grades in smaller courses, which normally attract \u201cadvanced and highly motivated students.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move comes amid broader concerns across U.S. higher education that rising grades have made it harder for employers and graduate schools to assess student performance. At Harvard, the share of undergraduate grades that are As has climbed sharply over the past two decades, according to a report in October by Harvard\u2019s Office of Undergraduate Education.<\/p>\n
Claybaugh announced a committee to study grading policies and possible alternatives in November 2024. At the start of the current semester, she said the share of \u201cflat A\u2019s\u201d had fallen to 53%, from 60% previously.<\/p>\n
The proposal on Friday cites concerns from employers and admissions officials who have said that \u201cHarvard transcripts no longer provide them useful information about the performance and distinction of Harvard students,\u201d forcing some to rely on informal networks that give an advantage to students with stronger connections.<\/p>\n
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\u201cUltimately, it will benefit students if employers and graduate admissions committees know that the grades on a Harvard transcript are a more accurate and nuanced reflection of student performance in their courses,\u201d according to the proposal.<\/p>\n
Concerns about grade inflation have also drawn scrutiny from Washington. Last year, the Trump administration floated a higher-education \u201ccompact\u201d that would link preferential access to certain federal funding with academic standards at U.S. colleges, including requirements for standardized testing such as the SAT or ACT and measures aimed at curbing grade inflation.<\/p>\n
This Bloomberg News story was distributed by tribune Content Agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOPHIE PARK \/ NEW YORK TIMES \/ MAY 1 Harvard Business School in Boston Harvard University is proposing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,526,451,2413,3,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-455231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-national-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}