An Analysis of the COVID-19-Induced Flexible Grading Policy at a Public University

To help students cope with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions offered students flexible grading policies that blended traditional letter grades with alternative grading options such as the pass--fail or credit--no credit options. This study conducted an in-depth analysis of the flexible grading policy at a medium-sized university in the USA. We studied the differential selection of flexible grading options by course characteristics and students' sociodemographics and academic profiles between Spring 2020 and Spring 2021. We also examined the impacts of the policy on sequential courses. Our analysis utilized administrative and transcript data for undergraduate students at the study institution and employed a combination of descriptive statistics and regression models. The analysis revealed that the flexible grading policy was utilized differently depending on course characteristics, with core courses and subjects like mathematics, chemistry, and economics having higher rates of usage. Additionally, sociodemographic and academic profile factors led to varying degrees of utilization, with males, urban students, freshmen, and non-STEM majors using the policy more frequently. Furthermore, the analysis suggested that the policy may have disadvantaged some students as they struggled in subsequent courses after using the pass option. Several implications and directions for future research are discussed.