Does Your School Grade Pass-Fail?
Updated May 2004
A High School Student's Perspective
Grading Systems
Reduced Course Load
Finer Grading Distinctions (3/02)
PASS OR FAIL: GRADES HAMPER EDUCATION
Walter Weiss
Several weeks ago, the New York Times carried a front page article on Yale [University]'s new "pass-fail" grading system. Or perhaps I should say Yale's new "honors, high pass, pass, fail" grading system. This, of course, does nothing but assign names to the old letter marks and incidentally makes a farce of the entire pass-fail concept.
The ADVANTAGES of adopting a true pass-fail system, not Yale's hybrid variety, are great where The Cambridge School [of Weston, Mass.] is concerned. Imagine the effects of equating A's to C's in the record books. With the pressure for grades removed, the students would be offered greater intellectual freedom. At present, the normal student is forced to ration his time equally between all subjects. If he develops a strong interest in one area, he is often forced to strangle that interest for the good of his work as a whole, one form of mediocrity. In this school, a student with two A's and two D's goes on probation. The pass-fail system gives the student a greater rein in this respect, and by opening the opportunity for concentrated work it would be a major addition to the academic life of the school.
The price to pay for pass-fail is a DISADVANTAGE in the college admissions process. I have talked with nearly a dozen college admissions officers in the past two months and they almost unanimously hold the same opinion on this subject. Admission to college is governed by recommendations and test scores, but most importantly by the student's academic record. It was thought by even the most liberal of schools that in order for a pass-fail system to work in a high school, it should be limited to extra courses, or at least that a grade of high-pass should be added. Otherwise they thought that the student's record would be meaningless.
However there is a way of solving the [college] admissions problem. Because this school is still a college preparatory school, it must ensure its students that if they pass their courses they will get into college. Under the pass-fail system the grade of "pass" would have to be set at the C level or near it. Granted that this would to some small degree counteract the good effects of pass-fail, and granted also that the greater number of failing grades would be hard for the faculty and students to accept, raising the passing level is the only measure that would let the school give its graduates a fair chance to compete for admission to even the less competitive colleges. But it would also make it possible for students to enter the very best colleges depending on strong teacher and school recommendations as well as high [SAT and other standardized] test scores.
The Cambridge School has never been simply a college preparatory school. The most noteworthy aspects of the school set it apart from others in the category. Town Meeting [student government] and its committees, the athletics, music, drama, and art programs do not lead toward college for a majority of the students but they are of value in themselves.
The academic curriculum has also had strong leadings in this direction. There are no teachers at The Cambridge School who would say that their job is to get their students into college. They teach their courses for their inherent value to the student. But high school work is always hampered by the tether of college requirements. A pass-fail grading system could lengthen the tether and allow The Cambridge School to develop into a school rather than a pre-college cram session.
(As a senior at The Cambridge School, Walter Weiss wrote this article in December 1967 for The Griffin's (Gryphon's) Eye (Volume IX, Issue V, pp. 1-2), the school newspaper. Bracketed words were added in May 1999 by the web page editor who was a junior at The Cambridge School at that time.)
Work Study for Families Less Well Off
Children of needy families and families on welfare should be permitted to take fewer courses per year over more years in the public school.. One of the purposes is to allow the student to earn money and/or help out the family more while still receiving honors grades and the full number of course credits from the public school system. Click here for details.
Academic Grading Systems
What is a pass-fail grading system anyway? As we saw in the article above, Yale instituted a system with four possible grades and called it pass-fail. Other systems that might "pass" for pass-fail have actually been around for years. Some are described below alongside "regular" grading systems.
Two step:
S (satisfactory), U (unsatisfactory)(This writer had been graded under this system for the first half of grammar school. One school used an additional grade of I for Improvement over the course of the semester where the averaged out grade would otherwise be U.)
Three step:
V+ (check plus), V (check), V- (check minus)Often used for daily homework assignments where the teacher verified that homework was submitted but did not analyze it thoroughly for correctness.
Four step: (Yale, began ca. 1967)
H (honors), HP (high pass), P (pass, unqualified), F (fail).
Four step: (Conduct/attitude grades accompanying the letter grades at a school this writer attrended)
1 (Outstanding), 2 (Satisfactory), 3 (Needs improvement), 4 (Unsatisfactory)
Five step: (Traditional whole steps)
Passing grades: A (4 grade points), B, C, D,Failing grade of F (0 points)
Six step: (Dartmouth, ca. 1960-1972)
Passing grades: A ("ace"), B, CP (C plus, "ploo"), CM (C minus, "mine"), D.Failing grade of E ("flunk")
The C grade was probably split to distinguish a gentlemanly C from a mediocre C.
A citation was a written statement of commendation given by a professor for exceptional work and might accompany an A, or once in awhile, a B.
Professors also occasionally put a notation of flagrant neglect ("flag") in a student's file to accompany a grade of E.
In this system Dartmouth used 5 grade points for the A, 4 points for the B, etc. When the system was changed over to the 12 step (see below) system in 1973, all grade point averages were rescaled to a four point A.
Ten step:
"Grade yourself on a one to ten scale."
11 step:
Same as the preceding except zero has been added. We have used the 11 step scale to grade the daily weather "from a perfect ten down to an abominable zero".
12 or 13 step: (Traditional)
Passing grades: A+, A, A-, B+, B, ... D, D-,.Failing grade: F
Not all schools using this system used the A+ grade.
The Harvard Curve assigns grades as follows, 98-100% is A+, 93-98 is A, 90-92 is A-, 87-89 is B+, 60-62 is D-, and 0-59 is F.
15 step: (Formalized traditional)
Passing grades: A+, A, A-, B+, ... D, D-.Failing grades: E+, E, E-
(In some instances, E+ may be used for "belated improvement" and E- might be used to denote flagrant neglect.)
19 step (Modern contemporary)
99-100 = A+: Outstanding (brownish red)
95-98 = A: Excellent (red)
93-94 = A-: Commendable (orange-red)
91-92 = B+: Very Good (red-orange)
87-90 = B: Good (orange)
85-86 = B-: Above Average (yellow-orange)
83-84 = C+: Average (orange-yellow)
79-82 = C: Fair (yellow)
77-78 = C-: Mediocre (green-yellow)
75-76 = D+: Below Average (yellow-green)
72-74 = D: Poor (green)
70-71 = D-: Very Poor (blue-green)
65-69 = E: Marginal Failure (green-blue)
60-64 = F: Moderate Failure (blue)
50-59 = G: Clear Failure (blue-violet)
40-49 = H: Low Failure (violet)
30-39 = I: Bad Failure (lavender)
20-29 = J: Disastrous Failure (grayish-lavender)
<20 = Z: Absolute Failure (light gray)Example submitted by A. Brancato, 12/01.
This example, which is a composite of several schools' grading systems, uses 70 as opposed to Harvard's 60 as the minimum passing percentage grade.
One possible variant would be to use "E+," "E," "E-,", "F+," "F," and "F-" in lieu of "E" through "J" as shown above.
101 step: (Percent)
100, 99, 98, ... 2, 1, 0. Some schools grade this way, without using letter grades.
Pass with written commendation (see Dartmouth 6 step, above)
Pass
Fail
No averages or rankings are done, except sanctions may be taken if there are too many failures.
Consumers Union (Consumer Reports Magazine) rates some products as "Acceptable" or "Not Acceptable". The "not acceptable" rating is usually reserved for products with significant hazards such as exposed wires that could cause electrocution. More recently they have an informal five step system: (better) red doughnut, red semicircle, white circle, black semicircle, black circle (worse).
Consumers Research (Consumer Bulletin Magazine) rated products as A for recommended, B for "intermediate quality" or C for not recommended.
Both Sides Now, an "oldies" or "baby boomer" popular music compact disk review newsletter, used the traditional whole grades A, B, C, D, and F to rate the sound quality or technical quality of the disks. No opinions or judgments are made about the recording artists or their material except when a new "take" or "rerecording" is made years after the original hit was popular and is masqueraded as the original version. Rerecordings are often made by artists whose royalties from the original recordings were paltry or have run out. Artists are also solicited to do rerecordings for record producers wishing to fill a gap in a music series because re-release rights could not be obtained from the current copyright holder for the original version. Visit Both Sides Now at http://www.bsnpubs.com (subject to availability).
The Institute of Transportation Engineers uses five passing grades, A, B, C, D, and E, to describe progressively worse (more congested) travel conditions on roads and highways. There is one failing grade of F which generally stands for more than a minute's delay at a traffic light or stopped bumper to bumper conditions on a freeway. Consideration is being given to adding more failing grades G, H, I, and J to categorize greater delays..
FINER DISTINCTIONS
Anthony Brancato
In recent years many schools have changed their grading formats so that the lowest numerical grade for an "A" is now more commonly 93 than 90; the other letter-grade ranges have also been shortened, resulting in, among other things, 70 (rather than 65 or even 60) now being the most frequently-encountered "passing" grade. Some schools also intricately subdivide failing grades into as many as six or seven subsets.
[The "19 step" system above] was derived from the Web sites of various schools (middle schools, high schools and colleges), showing what an ultimate, "state-of-the-art" grading format might look like, complete with numerical ranges, letters, descriptions, and color codes for each grade.
Apparently there are [even] report cards out there where the grade for each course is shown by means of coloring in the appropriate square with a computer-generated color rather than typing or writing in the letter by hand (the temperature maps that appear on the weather page of many newspapers seem to have provided the inspiration for the color scheme chosen).
The intricate subdivision of failure seems to be most common when issuing "conduct" grades; in many schools the grade for conduct is determined by starting each student at 100 and then deducting a certain number of points for each infraction (it can be from 1 to 20 depending on the seriousness of the misbehavior); whatever is ever left over at the end of the "marking period" (usually nine weeks in middle and high schools, sometimes six weeks in elementary schools) forms the basis for the grade, observing a scale such as the one above. The utility of multiple degrees of failure is obvious; once more than 30 "demerits" were accrued, there would otherwise be no further incentive for the student to behave him/herself for the remainder of the nine weeks if additional misconduct would not result in an even lower grade.
[Bracketed words added by the web page editor.]
All parts (c) copyright 1997-2002, Allan W. Jayne, Jr. unless otherwise noted or other author/origin stated.
If you would like to contribute an idea for our web page, please send us an e-mail. Sorry, but due to the volume of e-mail we cannot reply personally to all inquiries.