Harvard gives fewer As after report exposed massive grade inflation: dean

Despite the drop, more than half of students’ grades are still As

Harvard University students received fewer As in their fall semester classes following concerns about academic rigor and massive grade inflation at the Ivy League institution, the campus newspaper reported this week.

In an email to faculty Monday, Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh shared statistics showing the number of A grades fell by about 7 percent from last year, The Harvard Crimson reports.

Still, more than half of students’ grades were As. According to Claybaugh’s email, “the share of flat As fell from 60.2 percent last year to 53.4 percent in the fall.”

Her email comes after a report published by her office last fall warned that mounting grade inflation has been “damaging the academic culture of the College.” The 25-page report found that 60 percent of all undergraduate grades are now A’s – a 35 percent increase compared to 20 years ago.

On Monday, the dean addressed professors’ fears that giving out fewer As could hurt their teaching evaluations, known at Harvard as “Q reports,” according to The Crimson.

“I know this change wasn’t easy,” Claybaugh wrote. “Some of you report that your Q scores went down, and you worry about the effect this might have on reviews or enrollments.”

“With respect to reviews, I can reassure you that we look at Q scores alongside difficulty scores and median grades—and that we recognize and appreciate your efforts to restore rigor,” she wrote.

The Crimson reports more:

[Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences] spokesperson James M. Chisholm wrote in a statement that the College had not “expressly instructed” faculty to lower grades.

“Faculty have autonomy over grading for their respective courses,” he wrote.

Claybaugh wrote on Monday that a faculty committee charged with reviewing the College’s existing grading policies would release new proposals early in the spring semester. The FAS will then vote on whether to implement the proposals by the end of the semester, according to the email.

In a separate email Monday, Claybaugh told students that the committee plans to hold town halls to discuss its plans to address the problem, according to the report.

“While the decision will ultimately be made by faculty, students have a crucial role to play,” she wrote. “In the fall, many of you met with me and offered thoughtful suggestions and useful warnings. I passed your thoughts along to the faculty committee, and they shaped the committee’s work.”

As The Fix previously reported, grade inflation reports have reduced public trust in Harvard and other Ivy League institutions.

“‘As goes Harvard, so goes the nation’ is a phrase for a reason. If other schools see America’s oldest and most prestigious university as weakening standards, why should they keep high standards, especially as they compete for fewer and fewer students?” Veronica Bryant, academic affairs fellow at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, told The Fix previously.

This piece was originally published by The College Fix on January 29, 2026.