ucsc opened in 1965 during a time of unprecedented university growth, student protest, and introspection. The founding faculty, dissatisfied with traditional forms of grading, opted for a system that was intended to provide a better understanding of what a student had achieved in a course, while downplaying the competitive aspects of learning. Ucsc instructors would write a personalized narrative evaluation of each student's academic performance in all courses in which the student earned credit.

The proposal to implement narrative evaluations was approved by the systemwide academic senate in 1966 as a variance from the standard university of california grading system. A condition of the variance was the requirement that to receive the bachelor's degree a student must either write a senior thesis or pass a comprehensive examination. Later, boards of studies were given the option of electing that their upper division courses be graded a b c d f for all majors in the discipline. A b c grades were available at the undergraduate student's option for most upper division and a limited number of lower division courses. Graduate student grading was limited to pass p , in progress ip , incomplete i , or fail f.

All grades and course notations for both undergraduates and graduates were supplemented with narrative evaluations. Instructors are currently provided with a twenty page booklet of information designed to guide them in drafting narratives, but no further training is systematically made available. A well written narrative typically

evaluations are submitted to the registrar's office and added to the student database in standardized format with minimal, non substantive proofreading. Submissions which are incomplete, ambiguous, or illegible may be returned to the author for correction or clarification, or to the faculty committee on narrative evaluations which oversees the system and advises the academic senate. Once made part of the permanent electronic record, the narratives are maintained indefinitely and sent, on request of the student, to potential employers, graduate and professional schools, and other agencies as part of the student's official transcript. Copies of the narratives are also made available to advisers, academic preceptors, and department offices, as well as to the faculty authors.

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A recent study indicates that at least seventeen colleges and universities in the united states and canada use some form of narrative evaluation. Of those, goddard college and sarah lawrence have used narratives for over fifty years, and ucsc, hampshire college, and new college of the university of south florida have used them for well over twenty years each. However, the narrative system at ucsc is much broader in scope, resulting in up to 30,0 narrative evaluations per term compared to fewer than 5,0 per term elsewhere.

virtues and liabilities of the narrative system

opinions differ about the true value of the narrative evaluation system. Research published by the office of institutional research, as well as a recent survey conducted by the ucsc alumni association, indicates substantial and continuing support from ucsc graduates. A recent senior thesis project involving over 500 undergraduates and 150 alumni also indicated high levels of commitment to the narrative system. Of course, the respondents in such surveys might be viewed as self selected by virtue of their decision to attend ucsc. Faculty opinion seems to vary, although no scientific study of faculty opinion has been attempted.

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The following perceived virtues and liabilities are among the most frequently cited in discussions: perceived virtues

The narrative encourages instructors and teaching assistants to observe individual students more closely and to personalize their descriptions of student performance. Narratives encourage evaluators to study a student's entire performance record rather than focusing on a single summary measure. Because of nes, ucsc is thought to be especially attractive to self motivated students.

perceived liabilities

A recent ucsc study indicated a total cost of approximately $304,0 in l989 90 and $437,0 in l991 92 over and above the cost of a traditional grading system. The result is that computer based narrative evaluations are often reduced to key words and formulaic catch phrases that may differ little from traditional letter grades. In large courses, narratives are sometimes prepared by teaching assistants with varying degrees of supervision by instructors. This contributes to increased ta workloads and is at odds with formal senate policy and the special campus variance under which the nes was established. Some institutions and agencies still insist on a grade point average gpa calculation before they will consider ucsc students. Extreme care is necessary to ensure that narrative authors do not inadvertently include inappropriate, derogatory, or incriminating personal information in narratives e.g.

current practice

although narratives remain the primary form of academic evaluation at ucsc, changes have occurred over the years.

Initially, instructors teaching classes with more than forty students were exempted, upon petition, from writing narratives. Later, the exemption disappeared as a matter of general practice and instructors submitted narratives in all courses taught for credit. A procedure was also introduced to allow students to appeal narrative content if the student felt that an instructor gave the course notation or evaluation based on the student's race, politics, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, personal attributes, or anything other than academic performance. To compensate for the difficulty of writing narratives for large numbers of students, a computerized reporting system has been developed. It allows instructors to use menus and grids to prepare narratives electronically. Although the course instructor has final responsibility for the narratives, writing evaluations in larger classes has been possible only because of the involvement of teaching assistants who have often prepared the initial drafts of narratives for undergraduates.

The role of the tas in nes is not recognized in official descriptions of the system and has, at times, become a focus of controversy.

administration

the preparation, collection, and storage of narrative data require extraordinary commitments of instructor and teaching assistant time and energy and of the institution's scarce financial resources. There is no limit on the length of narratives, although most are no more than two or three paragraphs. Instructors are asked to submit their narratives within fifteen working days after the end of each quarter. About sixty days into the next quarter, a report of outstanding evaluations by course is circulated to deans, unit heads, and the executive vice chancellor. At the same time, a cumulative summary listing faculty with 100 or more outstanding evaluations is forwarded to relevant unit heads. Faculty who habitually fail to submit narratives in a timely way are at risk of having their merit or promotion files delayed or turned back non senate faculty who are habitual offenders are at risk of not being rehired.