Adding grades at a school famous for no grades?

New College today announced a dramatic change to the school’s educational program: moving from a system where students receive a narrative evaluation for each class, to a system where students always receive a grade alongside the narrative evaluation.

New College has long valued the use of narrative evaluations instead of grades, but the new policy announced today says students will now receive a grade based on the 4.0 grading system (4.0 = A, 3.0 = B, etc.) alongside the narrative evaluations.

New College already had a system in place for students to request a GPA estimate be generated, e.g. if the student wants a GPA estimate for a graduate school application. However, the longstanding day-to-day educational experience was grade-free and focused on narrative evaluations.

This new policy might increase the focus on grades rather than the narrative evaluations, furthering the erosion under Richard Corcoran of New College’s unique educational program.

The policy announced by the New College administration also seems to be markedly different from the policy approved by the faculty EPC committee earlier this year. That faculty policy allowed for a grade to be added only if the student specifically opted in, and would not be the default for all students. The faculty policy also proscribed that the grade would be labeled the “Crude Summary Assessment for External Use”. No mention of this label is in the policy announced by the New College administration, nor does the new policy indicate the GPA is meant for external audiences only.

Below is the policy announced today by the New College administration:

Below is the last policy approved by the faculty EPC committee that we have seen.