Some University of California departments finding alternatives to letter grades

INSIDE SOME UNIVERSITY of California academic departments and colleges, an atypical idea is gaining steam: De-emphasize or even ditch the A-F grading system and rethink how to assess student learning.

Divisions like UC Berkeley’s College of Chemistry and UC Davis’s Department of Mathematics are deliberating whether to change how they grade students. In some cases, that means awarding students a pass or no-pass grade rather than a letter grade. Other times, it may mean allowing students to choose which assignments get the most weight in determining their grade.