History Of The Grading System -

The shift toward formalizing performance began at Yale in 1785. President Ezra Stiles recorded the first documented grading scale in his diary, sorting 58 students into four Latin categories: Optimi (the best), Second Optimi , Inferiores , and Pejores (the worst). This was the first major step toward ranking students against one another rather than just assessing their mastery of a subject.

For most of us, getting an “A” or a “B” feels as fundamental to school as desks and chalkboards. But the modern grading system isn't an ancient tradition; it’s a relatively recent invention born from the Industrial Revolution and a 19th-century desire for efficiency. History of the Grading system

So, how did we get from "pass/fail" oral exams to the letter grades we see today? The shift toward formalizing performance began at Yale

While various schools experimented with 100-point scales and percentages, the letter system we recognize today was pioneered by in 1897. Their original scale looked a little different than ours: A : 95–100% (Excellent) B : 85–94% (Good) C : 76–84% (Fair) D : 75% (Passed) E : Below 75% (Failed) Who was Horace Mann? - by Robert Talbert For most of us, getting an “A” or