The decrease in fail rates in courses might be due in part to instructors being more lenient in grading during the pandemic. Table 4 reports the distribution of grades from Spring 2019 to Fall 2021. The percentage of courses with A grades increased from 40 percent in Spring 2019 to 50 percent in Spring 2020, whereas the percentage of courses with B and C grades decreased. The shift in the grade distribution is too large to be fully explained by the increased withdrawal rate among students who would have otherwise earned low grades. Thus, there is evidence that instructors were more lenient in awarding high grades during this period.17 The percentage of A grades decreased in Spring 2021 to 47 percent but not fully back to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, in Fall 2020 and Fall 2021 the percentage with A grades remained high but lower than the 50 percent level reached in the disrupted Spring 2020 semester at the very beginning of the pandemic.
Distribution of Course Grades in California Community College System
| . | Spring 2019 . | Spring 2020 . | Spring 2021 . | Fall 2019 . | Fall 2020 . | Fall 2021 . | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | Courses . | Share . | Courses . | Share . | Courses . | Share . | Courses . | Share . | Courses . | Share . | Courses . | Share . |
| Grade A | 1,249,257 | 41% | 1,358,209 | 50% | 1,232,064 | 47% | 1,285,305 | 39% | 1,304,345 | 46% | 1,134,226 | 44% |
| Grade B | 733,196 | 24% | 613,056 | 22% | 567,054 | 22% | 759,969 | 23% | 620,197 | 22% | 545,528 | 21% |
| Grade C | 453,841 | 15% | 320,405 | 12% | 310,590 | 12% | 481,039 | 15% | 350,636 | 12% | 319,191 | 12% |
| Pass (No Letter) | 155,387 | 5% | 143,883 | 5% | 109,015 | 4% | 167,775 | 5% | 117,211 | 4% | 105,805 | 4% |
| Fail | 490,215 | 16% | 300,545 | 11% | 404,133 | 15% | 589,537 | 18% | 459,210 | 16% | 476,810 | 18% |
| . | Spring 2019 . | Spring 2020 . | Spring 2021 . | Fall 2019 . | Fall 2020 . | Fall 2021 . | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | Courses . | Share . | Courses . | Share . | Courses . | Share . | Courses . | Share . | Courses . | Share . | Courses . | Share . |
| Grade A | 1,249,257 | 41% | 1,358,209 | 50% | 1,232,064 | 47% | 1,285,305 | 39% | 1,304,345 | 46% | 1,134,226 | 44% |
| Grade B | 733,196 | 24% | 613,056 | 22% | 567,054 | 22% | 759,969 | 23% | 620,197 | 22% | 545,528 | 21% |
| Grade C | 453,841 | 15% | 320,405 | 12% | 310,590 | 12% | 481,039 | 15% | 350,636 | 12% | 319,191 | 12% |
| Pass (No Letter) | 155,387 | 5% | 143,883 | 5% | 109,015 | 4% | 167,775 | 5% | 117,211 | 4% | 105,805 | 4% |
| Fail | 490,215 | 16% | 300,545 | 11% | 404,133 | 15% | 589,537 | 18% | 459,210 | 16% | 476,810 | 18% |
Notes: Calculated from administrative data from the California Community College system. The total number of courses with each grade is reported. Enrollment is for all colleges except three colleges that did not report enrollment data in Fall 2020. See text for more details.