Making the (Letter) Grade: The Incentive Effects of Mandatory Pass/Fail Courses

Kristin Butcher, Patrick McEwan and Akila Weerapana

No WP 2022-55, Working Paper Series from Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Abstract: In Fall 2014, Wellesley College began mandating pass/fail grading for courses taken by first-year, first-semester students, although instructors continued to record letter grades. We identify the causal effect of the policy on course choice and performance, using a regression-discontinuity-in-time design. Students shifted to lower-grading STEM courses in the first semester, but did not increase their engagement with STEM in later semesters. Letter grades of first-semester students declined by 0.13 grade points, or 23% of a standard deviation. We evaluate causal channels of the grade effect—including sorting into lower-grading STEM courses and declining instructional quality—and conclude that the effect is consistent with declining student effort.

Keywords: higher education; grading policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46
Date: 2022-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu
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https://doi.org/10.21033/wp-2022-55

Related works:
Journal Article: Making the (Letter) Grade: The Incentive Effects of Mandatory Pass/Fail Courses (2024)
Working Paper: Making the (Letter) Grade: The Incentive Effects of Mandatory Pass/Fail Courses (2022)
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