Harvard A grades fall to 53.4% as school considers adding A+ and other reforms

Harvard University reported that grades of A fell to 53.4 percent of grades awarded in the fall semester, down from 60.2 percent in the prior academic year, the dean of undergraduate education, Amanda Claybaugh, wrote in an email to the faculty Monday afternoon. Dr. Claybaugh praised faculty who she said had “tightened up your grading this fall, and your efforts have made a meaningful difference,” and she noted some instructors reported receiving less favorable course evaluations.

A spokesman for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences said professors retain “autonomy over grading for their respective courses.” An October report from Harvard’s Office of Undergraduate Education recommended allowing grades of A+ to recognize the very best students and thereby demote the routine A to the second rung.

The report also urged bringing grading “back into integrity” and suggested steps such as giving more weight to subject mastery rather than effort and including the median grade for each course on transcripts. The article placed Harvard’s changes in a broader context of long‑running grade inflation.

By Harvard’s figures, A grades were 24 percent in 2005, rose to 40.3 percent ten years later, jumped to 62.8 percent in the pandemic year 2020–21 and then settled at just over 60 percent last year.

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