In this follow-up to their earlier conversation about Harvard and “too many A’s,” Sharona and Boz welcome back Dr. Stephanie Valentine to unpack Harvard’s proposed new grading policy, which would cap the number of A grades in each class and layer course-based ranking on top of an already troubled system. Drawing on Stephanie’s powerful “Points Are Insidious” manifesto and her experience teaching high-achieving, perfectionistic students, the episode explores how policies built to force distinction can intensify anxiety, undermine risk-taking, discourage collaboration, and ultimately work against the very innovation and intellectual curiosity elite institutions claim to value. Together, the three of them critique the mathematical and ethical flaws of ranking students against one another, examine the gap between top-down policy and classroom reality, and wrestle with what it would mean for faculty to live with integrity under a policy like this—while also reaffirming that the real alternative is not inflated or meaningless grades, but grading systems genuinely grounded in learning, growth, and student wellbeing.

Links

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• Grade-inflation panel says updated plan focuses on reining in A’s, restoring integrity of system, freeing students to follow curiosity
• The “Points Are Insidious” Manifesto, Part 3: Perfectionism Is Not Excellence, by Dr. Stephanie Valentine
• Grade Caps Fail the Game Theory Exam, from The Crimson Tide (Harvard Newspapr)
• The “Points are Insidious” Manifesto (Part I), by Dr. Stephanie Valentine
• The “Points Are Insidious” Manifesto, Part II: Assessing at the Boiling Point, by Dr. Stephanie Valentine
• Yes, Grade Inflation is Real. But Is It a Real Problem?, from NEA Today
• Advice To Our Students, from the University of Texas - Austin
• Episode 127 - An LMS Designed from the Ground Up for Alt Grading? Tell Me More! With Stephanie Valentine
• Episode 138 - Too Many A’s Or Too Much Confusion?

Shameless Outside Plug for Sharona's Theater Production Company

• Chalomot Productions

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

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All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.