When students at Princeton University received their fall semester grades last week, some may not have seen the A's they have come to expect. In an effort to reverse the trends of grade inflation and increasing grade point averages, Princeton has launched an initiative to reduce the number of A's given out. Last semester was the first semester in which professors gave grades under the new guidelines.
The university has recently implemented a policy that states an "expectation" that in each academic department, less than 35 percent of undergraduate class work and less than 55 percent of undergraduate independent work will receive grades in the A range, including A-plus, A and A-minus grades.
These percentages are based on grading patterns at Princeton from the 1970s to the early 1990s, according to a statement from the Registrar's office. Grades from these years were used in constructing the policy because statistics have shown that grades have increasingly inflated since the early 90s.
Although the university has not mandated that departments meet the 35 and 55 percent caps, a faculty committee on grading will discuss ways to help departments that give out too many A's to comply with the policy.
Dartmouth has also attempted to address the grade inflation problem, but instead of using a percentage system akin to Princeton's, the College lists the median grade for each class next to the actual grade that a student received.
History department chair Heide Whelan prefers the current system to the Princeton policy.
"I don't want to approach my grading with percentages in mind," she said.
Whelan added that she believes grade inflation is a problem and that it would be helpful for professors to examine more closely the meaning of an A.
Some departments at Princeton had grading patterns that were already in accordance with the new guidelines. The psychology department does not anticipate a change in grading patterns, as they already met both standards put into place by the new policy, department chair Deborah Prentice said.
This may be due to the department's large number of lecture-style classes as opposed to small, seminar classes in which more students typically receive A's, Prentice added.
Princeton's history department, however, will need to change its grading patterns in order to comply with the policy. The department previously met the objectives for junior and senior independent work but gave A's to more than 35 percent of undergraduates.
"I think there's a general recognition among the faculty members of the history department that that was probably overboard," department chair Jeremy Adelman said in reference to the number of A's given in recent years. "I think that we're going to rediscover the C. We don't get enough of a spectrum."
Adelman said that while he supports the policy, he does not believe that it will prevent professors from giving high grades to A-quality work, particularly in upper-level classes. "It's an aspiration; it's not a straitjacket," he said.
Some students at Princeton are worried that as a result of the new initiative, they will lose their competitive edge due to lower GPAs.
Princeton junior Brandon Parry has already seen a drop in his grades. Parry said he has heard some professors say that they have been pressured by other faculty members to give lower grades, while others say that they will simply not abide by the new standards.
"It kind of undermines a notion of cooperative intellectual pursuit, because embedded in this system is the notion that only 35 percent of us can get A's," Parry said.
Princeton senior Adam Balkan is not quite as worried. Balkan does not believe the initiative will affect him very much but still believes that students will be graded fairly.
"Most professors say it's a guideline and that they'll give you the grade you deserve, not what the university wants them to give you," Balkan said.
