The Problems with Grading Part 2

In the first part of this two-article series (Click Here), I presented the findings of a study conducted at Harvard College on grading, an issue near and dear to all of us. In that first article, I presented some of their findings, which also resonate across higher education, including PA education. These findings included grade inflation, with students getting too many As, and the discernment that the grade used to hold has been lost. The student myth that their grade should reflect their effort rather than their learning and their readiness to fight to get the grade they want, whether they earned it or not. The faculty has been caught in the middle. If they grade too hard, students complain, sometimes going directly to the Dean, and they express their dissatisfaction through negative faculty evaluations. For the many institutions that use these to evaluate teacher effectiveness and success, this is problematic, commonly resulting in teachers adjusting their grading to be easier. 

So, how did we get here? Grades have been part of education for as long as any of us can remember. Why have they become such a charged issue? 

Some believe that, in the attempt to make learning more active, evidence-based, and student-centered, the new teaching and assessment approaches moved away from the more rigid grading of high-stakes exams toward more frequent, low-stakes ones. Formal individual paper assignments gave way to creative writing tasks, group work, and student multimedia presentations (McMurtrie, 2025a,b). If you have ever tried to develop a rigorous, effective grading approach for these kinds of assessments, you know it is challenging. The question remains whether grading is actually based on demonstrated mastery of the material, or on a professional and effective presentation that hits all the requirement boxes.           

Like many institutions of higher education, Harvard’s faculty instituted several of the new strategies mentioned above, including giving faculty permission to limit the number of As awarded in their courses. Their results were similar to a 2023 study that examined efforts to navigate grading issues at other colleges, using some of the same approaches Harvard used. The changes had little effect on current grading issues and concerns and further highlighted the ongoing challenges of grading in today’s educational environment (Claybaugh, 2025). 

Some concern was raised about whether moving from high-stakes to low-stakes evaluations rewards effort more than learning and leads students to have a false sense of mastery. Using creative-based individual or group assignments like multimedia presentations may increase engagement and motivation, but these are harder to determine the student’s level of material and concept comprehension (Claybaugh, 2025; McMurtrie, 2025a,b). 

What do we do?

Harvard issued recommendations to address grading concerns. Faculty were asked to:

• collect longitudinal data on the distribution of their course grades over time to observe patterns
• evaluate the ratio of exams to assignments, and the weight each carries and contributes to the final course grade. Is more of the grade coming from attendance, group projects, or task completion versus in-class examinations or other formal assessments? Longitudinally, has the course moved more to assignments and tasks and away from high-stakes exams?
• clearly articulate their grading standards to the students, literally define what each grade represented, and the work needed to attain the grade
• ensure consistency in grading 

Fortunately, due to our accreditation standards, programs should already be collecting and analyzing longitudinal course grades, not only for failures but also for broader patterns of grade inflation. 

Paying attention to the types of assessment used in the curriculum and each course is also worth reviewing to determine how each one contributes to the final grade. Given our profession, I’m not sure we can do away with all high-stakes exams. Still, we can be mindful and intentional about how we integrate newer assessment approaches with more traditional ones. 

Clearly articulating each graded component and its contribution to the overall course grade to students is important and can be achieved through detailed explanations in the syllabus as well as in-person reviews with students. 

Grading continues to be a challenge for all of us in education, with no clear answers in sight. Recently, more attention has been paid to alternative or ungrading approaches as teachers seek ways to assess their students more effectively in terms of learning. However, those also have their share of challenges (see the resources list below for more information on alternative grading). What hasn’t changed for us as faculty is the importance of consistently and fairly evaluating students in ways that accurately reflect their learning and mastery. 

References

Claybaugh, A. (2025). Re-centering academics at Harvard College: Update on grading and workload. https://ouedocumentlibrary.fas.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum1616/files/2025-10/Update_on_Grading_October.27.2025.pdf 

McMurtrie, B. (2025a, November 21). Grading is broken. Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www-chronicle-com./article/grading-is-broken 

McMurtrie, B. (2025b, November 6). The problem with grades. Chronicle of Higher Education.https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/teaching/2025-11-06 

Alternative Grading Resources

1. Center for Grading Reform https://www.centerforgradingreform.org/resources/
2. Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices that Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education. David Clark and Robert Talbert. Routledge. 2023
3. KU Center for Teaching Excellence. (n.d.). Alternative grading: A teaser. https://cte.ku.edu/alternative-grading-teaser
4. Arnaud, C. H. (2021). How an alternative grading system is improving student learning. c&en. https://cen.acs.org/education/undergraduate-education/alternative-grading-system-improving-student/99/i15
5. Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning[CTL]. (n.d.). Alternative grading approaches: Grading for learning. https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/grading-for-learning/
6. NAESP. (2025, September 6). Alternative grading systems show promise. https://www.naesp.org/resource/alternative-grading-systems-show-promise/