Examining Undergraduate Grading Policies and Student Behavior

Last registered on February 22, 2021

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Examining Undergraduate Grading Policies and Student Behavior

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007215

Initial registration date

February 20, 2021

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

February 22, 2021, 12:03 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Michigan

Primary Investigator

Name

Stephanie Owen

Affiliation

Colby College

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Steve Lonn

PI Affiliation

University of Michigan

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Basit Zafar

PI Affiliation

University of Michigan

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Kevin Stange

PI Affiliation

University of Michigan

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Brian Jacob

PI Affiliation

University of Michigan

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2021-01-08

End date

2025-05-31

Keywords

Behavior, Education, Labor

Additional Keywords

Survey, grades, grading policies

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

In response to the myriad challenges students are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many universities have modified their academic policies to provide more flexibility for students. During the 2020-2021 academic year, the University of Michigan (UM) adopted a policy that gives students the option to convert letter grades to “Pass” or “No Record Covid” and also to drop courses late in the term without it appearing on their official transcript. This policy should reduce the risk associated with poor course performance and permit students to attempt more challenging courses without fear that it will adversely affect their grades.

We will use this setting to better understand the role that grading systems play in students’ course selection, major choice, and other academic behaviors. Using a survey of UM undergraduates, we will solicit information about students’ beliefs about grades and knowledge of the new and old grading policy. In an experimental intervention embedded within the survey, some students will receive additional information highlighting how the grading policy reduces the risk of taking more difficult and more varied courses. We will combine survey responses with administrative student records to see whether making salient the insurance aspect of the policy changes students’ attitudes towards coursetaking, intended academic behavior, and realized academic decisions.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Jacob, Brian et al. 2021. "Examining Undergraduate Grading Policies and Student Behavior." AEA RCT Registry. February 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7215-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention entails providing students with additional information and context about the University’s grading policies for the Winter 2021 semester. Specifically, the treatment highlights that the new grading policy reduces the risk of bad grades, makes it easier to experiment with more varied classes, and makes it less risky to take more classes. This informational treatment is embedded within a survey that all study participants take, but is shown to only half the respondents.

Intervention (Hidden)

The informational treatment consists of the following text. It will appear after a description of the grading policy, which all students see. Only treated students see the following:

[begin intervention text]

We want to highlight several features of this policy that might not be obvious.

- This policy reduces the risk of bad grades. You can decide whether to take a Pass instead of the letter grade after you already know how you performed in the class. This might be a good time to consider taking classes that are known to be challenging without worrying about how this will affect your GPA.

- The policy makes it easier to experiment with more varied classes. Since you can drop a class at any time until the end of the semester, there is less risk in taking more and varied classes. You might want to shop around and explore a greater variety of courses in Winter 2021 than you normally would.

- The policy makes it less risky to take more classes. You may be able to graduate on time by taking 15 credits every semester, but taking more credits now gives you more flexibility in the future. Some students take 16-18 credits in one term in order to take fewer credits in terms when they are applying for jobs or graduate school or while studying abroad. Note that U-M charges the same tuition if you take between 12 and 18 credits (link to policy). The fact that you can drop courses very late in the semester and have the option of taking a Pass (instead of letter grades A+ through C) makes this a good time to consider taking more credits. However, given your own personal situation, you should carefully think about the right course load for you.

Of course, everyone’s situation is different, so you should consult with your advisors before making any decisions.

[end intervention text]

Intervention Start Date

2021-01-08

Intervention End Date

2021-01-22

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Survey outcomes: subjective probability of course withdrawal; subjective probability of changing letter grade to “Pass”; intended number of credits (enrolled, completed, and relative to hypothetical policy counterfactual); intended difficulty of courses; intended breadth of courses; intended graduation date.

Administrative outcomes: number of credits (enrolled and completed); subjects taken; difficulty of courses taken; course withdrawals; letter grades converted to “Pass” or “No Record Covid”; declared major.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Survey outcomes: concern about grades; concern about dropping classes; intended time use (studying, working, other extracurricular activities)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

All currently enrolled undergraduate students at the University of Michigan are eligible to participate in the study. All students who consent to participate will be fielded a survey about their academic plans. Among survey respondents, half will be randomly assigned to treatment and half to control using the Randomizer tool within Qualtrics survey software, which randomizes students to treatment or control at the point in the survey where the intervention text appears.

The intervention entails providing students with additional information and context about the University’s grading policies for the Winter 2021 semester, embedded within the survey. Control students do not receive the additional information.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done using the Randomizer tool within Qualtrics survey software.

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

We do not have a target sample size in mind. The survey (and therefore the intervention) will be open to all undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Michigan for Winter 2021 (N = approx. 29,000 students). The survey will remain open for two weeks, and all survey respondents will be included in the analysis. The design is individual (student) level, not clustered.

Sample size: planned number of observations

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Half of survey respondents will be assigned to control and half to treatment.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

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