Increase in Honors Marks Prompts Study of Grading

Faculty concern over the increasing number of students on honors programs and the Dean's List has prompted a thorough study of grading practices at Harvard.

The study, undertaken last Spring by the Office of Tests, is also aimed at investigating the kinds of pressures grades place on undergraduates, and the effect of alternative systems such as pass-fail programs or grade-free courses.

Dean K. Whitla, director of the Office of Tests said Wednesday the Faculty is divided roughly into two opinions over the swelling number of honors candidates.

"There are those who feel that practices have grown soft; there has been inflation, and there should be a return to parity," Whitla said.

Other Faculty members, he continued, feel that selective admissions policies have upgraded the quality of the student body.

To determine long-range changes in the pattern of grading, he said, the study will utilize grade histories from the past 10 years and interviews with former undergraduates as far back as the Class of 1952.

The researchers have discussed the possibility of interviewing Faculty members, Whitla said, with particular emphasis on teaching fellows, who are responsible for the bulk of grading in most courses.

Another question under investigation, he said, in the rigor and fairness of grading at Harvard: what causes the difference between a tough course and an easy one.

Psychological Impact

The study is also concerned with the psychological Impact of grades on undergraduates, Whitla said, and the effectiveness of grades as a sorting mechanism for graduate schools.

"The kinds of rewards tend to classify a man in his own mind," he explained, adding that low grades can lower a student's opinion of himself.

Finally, Whitla said he was interested in the possibility of predicting what kind of graduate work a student will choose from his grade level as an undergraduate.

In preparing the report, Whitla said, the Office of Tests has assembled data on every course at Harvard that gives grades.

The statistics are classified according to the students' fields of concentration and class rank, and also arranged so as to compare one course to another.

Whitla said he hoped to be ready to submit the study to the Committee on Instruction by the end of the semester. The Committee on Instruction would then make recommendations to the Committee on Educational Policy, he added.