To: The Wellesley Community
From: Andy Shennan, Provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College
Re: Changes to Wellesley College’s Grading Policy
Date: May 15, 2019
Over the course of this academic year, the Committee on Curriculum and Academic Policy and the Academic Council have undertaken a review of Wellesley’s policies concerning the grading of student work. This review has led to three changes to College legislation.
- The grading policy voted on by Academic Council in April 2004, which legislates that the mean grade in courses at the 100 and 200 level with 10 or more students shall be no higher than B+, has been rescinded, effective in fall 2019.
- All academic departments and programs will be required to engage in an annual conversation about grading practices, philosophies, and outcomes, and to report on the outcomes of these conversations in their annual reports.
- The Committee on Curriculum and Academic Policy will review and report at least once each academic year on the grades awarded in the previous year.
While all three of these steps (especially, of course, the first one) represent significant change, it is important to underscore what will not change. The College’s letter grading system remains unchanged, as does the College’s definition of each of our letter grades. (Those definitions can be found in the College’s Articles of Government). The College will continue to include with transcripts documentation about the grading policy that was in force between 2004 and 2019.
Above all, as a community committed to learning and to rigorous enquiry and truth-seeking, the faculty will continue to value intellectual distinction, meet their responsibility to apply consistent and equitable grading standards, and provide realistic and meaningful feedback to students about the quality of academic work.
