Grading in Honors Courses

Intellectual risk-taking is a foremost value in honors education. Faculty should be sensitive to the ways that course evaluation thwarts experimentation and risk-taking. For this reason, course evaluation should be based on methods and measures that accurately assess creativity, imagination, and critical thinking. Mastery of course objectives should be stressed over accumulation of points and percentages. In this sense, a certain ‘artfulness’ comes to bear in assigning grades.

Beyond this, grading in honors classes should not force students into competition with one another for a limited number of “A” grades. In determining grades, faculty should compare the honors student to all students at the same level, not simply to honors students in isolation. At the same time, faculty must completely evaluate the student’s command of course material. Where course expectations are not met, there should be no hesitation to award a low grade.