What's an A

By Jessica Craver

As we enter into the heart of the holiday season, a substantial portion of Boston residents is worried about more than just finding the perfect gift. Across the city, college students are beginning their most stressful time of year: finals. Students will spend the next week of their lives in crowded libraries and quiet study halls cramming for what, in many cases, will determine their grades for an entire semester's efforts.

Final examinations have perpetually been the source of much stress for college students across the country. However, after a startling study conducted by the Boston Globe this past October, which suggested that it may now be easier to earn an A than ever before, one has to wonder just what students are worrying about these days.

According to the study, excessive grade inflation - present at many universities across the country - is making it much easier to graduate with honors than in the past. One might be surprised to learn just how easy it is to earn A's at the nation's most prestigious schools. The school investigated in the Globe study was none other than Harvard University, where, last year, more than half of the grades handed out were A's or A minuses, and honors were awarded to a record 91 percent of graduating seniors.

While Harvard may be an extreme example of grade inflation, the problem exists to some extent at most colleges and universities - including Boston University. Here, students concerned with maintaining scholarships and gaining admission into graduate programs are placing pressure on their professors to give higher grades. While most members of the BU faculty are aware of the uneven grade distributions, they generally are unwilling to down-grade their students' marks. Citing concerns for the future success of their students, most professors have no problem handing out A's. While the problem of grade inflation seems inevitable under these conditions, BU Provost Dennis Berkey has proposed a system of grading that appears to be making both faculty and students happy.

Statistically, Boston University can be regarded as one of the more stringent grading institutions in the United States: Last year, only 39 percent of students graduated with some form of Latin honors - a figure that has not changed since 1998. While the GPA requirements for Latin honors - Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Summa Cum Laude - vary from as low as 3.2 to as high as 3.4 between BU schools, the general average GPA required for these honors is a 3.3.

Compared to other similar universities, Boston University does not have a significant problem with grade inflation when considered as one single entity. Even as some schools within the University (such as the College of Arts and Sciences and College of Communication), have as many as 50 percent of their class graduating with honors, other colleges, like the School of Management and College of Engineering, even out the distribution, graduating just over 20 percent with honors. Nonetheless, University Provost Dennis Berkey has asked Boston University deans and department heads to keep on top of grade inflation.

Boston University's College of Arts and Sciences, for instance, has been keeping a close eye on grading trends for some time now. Assistant Dean of CAS Alan Marscher is responsible for their program on grade inflation. Marscher says CAS has kept statistics on grade distributions for several years, "Independently of Harvard."

Over a ten-year span, from the late 1980s to the late 1990s, the statistics have shown a slight increase in the mean grade point average of a CAS student. "We're reaching a point where [students think that] to not get an A is a disgrace," Marscher explains.

While the increase in GPA, from about a 2.9 to a 3.0, may not seem like a significant increase, Marscher explains that they would still like to bring the grade distribution back down. "What you find now [with the higher average GPA] is that a lot of professors and students consider a 'C' grade to be what used to be D's and F's," he explains.

The higher average GPA has also resulted in a higher number of students graduating with honors. Last year, approximately one-half of the graduating class at CAS graduated with some form of Latin honors, for which the minimum required GPA is a 3.3. "We're working with department chairs to bring distribution back down," he explains.

The Deans at BU's College of Communication are also looking for a tightening of grades across the board "so that the top students really are at the top," says COM Assistant Dean Marilyn Root. COM grade distributions are consistent with those of CAS, she explains, as the majority of COM major requirements are liberal arts classes, taken in CAS.

On the other hand, the BU College of Engineering, as a school, has "no real position" on grade inflation, according to Engineering Dean Sol Eisenberg. While the ENG administration is aware of the grading tendencies of its professors, Eisenberg says, it is also "aware that our grades are not as inflated [as other BU colleges' are]." Last year, the percentage of students graduating with honors in Engineering was lower than the University-wide average of 39 percent.

A similar situation exists at the School of Management. "I don't know that our grading procedures have to be looked at," contends SMG Associate Dean Sandra Procopio. Last spring, she explains, the School of Management awarded Latin honors to just 22.9 percent of graduating seniors, while a similar percentage of students (around 21 percent) were placed on the Dean's list during the 2000-2001 academic year.

Peter Arnold, Associate Professor and Faculty Director of SMG, explains that the school's grade distribution is more on target than other colleges: "The average [grade point average of an SMG student] varies, but is generally between a B and a B minus."

As Faculty Director, Arnold is responsible for monitoring the grading policies of SMG teachers. "In the past, grades for required courses have been returned [to the professor] for reconsideration if perceived to be too high," he explains. Arnold and his staff will also return a professor's grades for reconsideration if they appear to be too low.

Whatever methods are employed at SMG to monitor grading, however, Arnold maintains that the professor always has the last word in how he or she grades the students: "Grading is still the purview of the individual assigning the grades." This philosophy seems to be keeping with the policies of other BU schools, as well.

"We prefer friendly persuasion," explains Dean Marscher. When Marscher sees that a particular teacher's grade distribution appears to be too lenient, it is brought to the attention of that faculty member's department chairman. The chairman is then responsible for discussing the potential problem with the professor. This discussion, however, serves only to call attention to the issue. Marscher admits that suggestions may be made to the professor as to how he or she could more appropriately distribute grades, but no 'action', per se, is taken.

Dean Root agrees with this approach. "We have to respect a teacher's right to give the grades they feel are appropriate, and to distribute them equitably and fairly."

This does not, however, mean that she does not feel it necessary to communicate with teachers about their grading policies. Root supports "keeping a continuing, open dialogue about [grade distribution]." Doing so, she believes, will raise more awareness of the issue and, consequently, make the faculty more careful about its grading procedures.

Root, along with COM Dean Brent Baker, has been monitoring grade inflation since about 1994. In that time, according to Root, the issue has been brought up frequently at department meetings. She stresses that the aim of COM administrators has been not to lower the average GPA of its students to a particular mark, but rather to attain a more even distribution of grades. "It's unlikely that one professor has all the best students [in his class]," she rationalizes.

However, Root sympathizes with the professors: "You go into teaching because you want your students to be successful," she says. Teachers do not want to give their students bad grades. According to Root, professors are not only afraid of being stigmatized as tough-graders and becoming unpopular, they also want their students to succeed in the future. "But you need to be honest with them," she explains.

Dean Marscher states that, after talking with members of the CAS faculty, he has found that "[they] are concerned with having their students turned down in the future on the basis of a low GPA." In addition, he says, professors are concerned not just with their students' future careers, but with the more immediate concern of university scholarships.

CAS sophomore Debra Germann agrees that some professors are more lenient in their grading policies if they know a scholarship is on the line. "Professors generally seem to understand that the difference between an A and a B can be more than just a few points," she says. "For some people, it can determine whether or not they can come back to school the next semester." As most BU scholarships, as well as external scholarships, have minimum GPA requirements, many students are forced to plead for higher grades or to drop a course if the possibility of a bad grade looms in the distance.

Professor Jeffery Henderson, chairman of the Classical Studies Department of CAS and director of the CAS Honors Program, explains that students do have a way out of losing their scholarships due to bad grades. "The University has a very late drop date," he says. This allows students "to drop a course late in the semester if the possibility of a bad grade exists."

While the late drop date, which generally lands just a week or two before finals, helps some students save their scholarships, Henderson explains that it can hurt both their professors and the students who remain in the class. This is because when the students with the lowest grades in a class drop out, leaving only those with higher grades in the class, a professor could appear to be too lenient, and might end up being more strict with grading. According to Henderson, this means that some students will receive lower grades than they initially deserved if professors are required to maintain a certain distribution scheme. Henderson states that he has no desire to see an arbitrary curve imposed in his classes: "If I have good students in my class, I don't want to down-grade them just to maintain a perfect bell-curve."

Dean Marscher has received this sentiment from several department chairmen in the past. Many members of the faculty have no interest in lowering their grade distributions. Some contend that the increasing number of A's being handed out is unavoidable. "They feel that as the quality of students entering BU has gone up, the grades handed out need to increase, too," he says. However, this sort of approach does not properly demonstrate the abilities of each individual student, according to Marscher. Instead, he says, "it makes the grading system fairly meaningless." He suggests that professors aim to only give A's to those students who have truly mastered the course material.

ENG Dean Eisenberg agrees that A's should be harder to attain than they currently are. "If the entire class gets an A, it dilutes the meaning of that grade for each individual student," he says. He asserts that proper grade determinations are made on the assessment of a student's mastery of the material. However, Eisenberg does agree that many professors cannot overlook the fact that the grades they hand out will directly affect their students' success beyond college.

"BU certainly does not benefit from beating down its students, either," he explains. Boston University already grades more rigorously than other similar schools. Eisenberg feels that this puts BU graduates at a disadvantage when in competition with students from other, more leniently grading schools. He explains that most professors have little interest in lowering their students' grades further if it results in the decreased possibility of employment or acceptance into graduate programs.

Boston University Provost Dennis Berkey addressed this concern at a recent faculty meeting. According to Dean Marscher, Berkey has proposed an anti-inflation approach to grading currently used at Dartmouth College and several other universities. With this policy, students' transcripts would list two grades for each class: the grade the student earned and the median grade of the entire class. Marscher says this method would "provide [for] a more realistic interpretation of grades."

“This policy would allow graduate schools and employers to put a student's grade into perspective in order to more accurately asses his performance,” says Dean Eisenberg. He explains that, at the moment, graduate schools and corporate recruiters - not to mention professors and students themselves - have no context for comparing one student's grades to those of another student from a different school. Comparing the grade the student earned with the performance of the entire class, however, would perhaps lessen the disadvantage some students face from BU's more stringent grading policies.

"The [dual-grading method] really makes a difference," says Dean Root, who feels that most students and professors would embrace the idea. "It helps teachers do the job they need to do," she explains, by alleviating some of the pressure they may feel from students needing higher GPAs to succeed after college.

Dean Eisenberg agrees that this method would better represent a student's performance; however, he can see its potential downfall: "The only downside [to the dual-grading approach] is if the person reviewing the transcript doesn't take the time to interpret it fully," says Eisenberg. After all, he explains, if all a school or employer is concerned with is a student's overall GPA, it does not matter what the rest of the transcript says.

"Even though the system might not work in every case," explains CAS student Debra Germann, "it would still make me more comfortable about the grades I receive." She compares the dual-grading system to that of class ranking in high school: as high schools grade their students on different scales, the class rank is used to demonstrate how a particular student performed in comparison to the rest of the class. "You have to look at more than one factor," she explains. "Grades alone are not everything; how you compare to your peers is just as, if not more, important."

"I hope the administration will look into [the dual-grading system]," Germann concludes. "A B minus would not seem so terrible if everyone knew the rest of my class got a C."