Stephen Levitsky

At Harvard, more than half of all grades awarded to undergraduates last year were A's, up from just a quarter two decades ago.

Now the number of A grades in any given course will be limited to the top 20% of students, plus four additional A's per class.

Government professor Stephen Levitsky supports that change.

He says the status quo rewarded different levels of work with the same grade.

Critics argue the cap assumes only a limited number of students can produce outstanding work.

The new policy takes effect in fall 2027.

For NPR News, I'm Kirk Carrapeza in Boston.