education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

, narrative evaluation is a form of performance measurement and feedback which can be used as an alternative or supplement to grading. Narrative evaluations generally consist of several paragraphs of written text about a student's individual performance and course work. The style and form of narrative evaluations vary significantly among the educational institutions using them, and they are sometimes combined with other performance metrics, including letter and number grades and pass/fail designations.

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
s and
universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
that use narrative evaluations

Alverno College Alverno College is a private Roman Catholic women's college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. History Chartered in 1887 as St. Joseph's Normal School, Alverno became Alverno Teachers College in 1936. It adopted its current name in 1946. Academics Alve ...

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its ...

(Narrative evaluations are provided for most classes in addition to letter grades) *

Antioch University Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. Founded in 1852 as Antioch College, its first president was politician, abolitionist, and education reformer Horace Mann. It changed its ...

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

(Letter grades are available in addition to narrative evaluations upon request on a per course basis) *

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

(Students are given both letter grades and written comments via "criteria sheets" given mid-term and end-of-term) *

Biola University Biola University () is a private, nondenominational, evangelical Christian university in La Mirada, California. It was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It has over 150 programs of study in nine schools offering bachelor's ...

(The Torrey Honors Program uses a twice-yearly Don Rags meeting with a professor, called a "mentor," in addition to letter grades.) * Brown University (Narrative course performance report optionally given in addition to letter grade) * Burlington College (Students are provided an option for traditional transcripts; school is no longer in operation.) *

California Institute of Integral Studies California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) is a private university in San Francisco, California.Otterman, Sharon. "Merging Spirituality and Clinical Psychology at Columbia". ''New York Times'', Aug. 9, 2012Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greenin ...

(School of Undergraduate Studies only, in conjunction with pass/no pass grades; for courses from fall 2003 through summer 2021) *

College of the Atlantic College of the Atlantic (COA) is a private liberal arts college in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine, United States. Founded in 1969, it awards bachelors and masters ( M.Phil.) degrees solely in the field of human ecology, an interdiscipli ...

(Allows you to opt out of receiving letter grades) *

College of Creative Studies The College of Creative Studies is the smallest of the three undergraduate colleges at the University of California, Santa Barbara, unique within the University of California system in terms of structure and philosophy. Its small size, studen ...

University of California, Santa Barbara (Performance based on work completed/reflected in units received) *

Dharma Realm Buddhist University Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU) is an American private nonprofit university located in Ukiah, California, just over 100 miles north of San Francisco, in Mendocino County. It was established in 1976 by Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. It is sit ...

(Narrative evaluations are provided for most classes in addition to letter grades) *

The Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a p ...

(Letter/number grades are never used) *

Fairhaven College Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies is an interdisciplinary liberal arts college at Western Washington University. Instead of completing the general education requirements at Western, students take interdisciplinary classes at Fairhaven ...

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

Goddard College Goddard College is a progressive education private liberal arts low-residency college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The college offers undergraduate and gra ...

(Letter/number grades are never used) *

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mo ...

(Letter/number grades are never used for Hampshire students unless they are taking a Five College class; students in the Five College interchange can get letter grades when their home institution requires it) *

Johnston Center for Integrative Studies The Johnston Center for Integrative Studies is an alternative education program offered by the University of Redlands in Redlands, California. The Johnston Center focuses on interdisciplinary education, in which students design the curriculum for ...

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...

* Marlboro College * New College of Florida (Letter/number grades are never used) * New Saint Andrews College (Short evaluations in addition to a system of Latin letter grades) *

Northeastern University School of Law Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as an evening program to meet the needs of its local community, NUSL is nationally recognized for its cooperative legal ...

(School of Law only, letter/number grades are never used) *

Prescott College Prescott College is a private college in Prescott, Arizona. History In 1965, the Ford Foundation brought together a group of educators from around the United States. Prescott College was the result of this gathering. The college was originall ...

(Letter grades are available in addition to narrative evaluations upon request on a per course basis) * Quest University Canada (Narrative course performance report optionally given in addition to letter grade) *

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

(Letter grades are available upon request) * Residential College,

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

(Letter/number grades are assigned by request, evaluations by default) * St John's College (Known as the Don Rag; letter grades are recorded and available by request) * Sarah Lawrence College (Letter grades are provided to student upon request) *

Soka University of America Soka University of America (SUA) is a private liberal arts college in Aliso Viejo, California. Originally founded in 1987, it was established on its current campus in 2001 by Daisaku Ikeda, the founder of the Soka Gakkai International Buddhist ...

(Narrative evaluations and P/NP grade for up to 5 courses) *

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

(UCSC) (Narrative evaluations are given in addition to letter grades. Recently, narrative evaluations were made optional.) *

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

Community, Environment, and Planning
(CEP major only, narrative transcripts complement the Pass/Fail on the UW transcript) *

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

(Letter/number grades are never used)

High school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
s that use narrative evaluations

{{Expand list, date=August 2008 * The

Academy at Charlemont The Academy at Charlemont is a small, private, college-preparatory day school, located on the Deerfield River in Charlemont, Massachusetts, that serves grade 6 through postgraduate. The school was founded by Eric Grinnell, Dianne Grinnell, David W ...

, Charlemont, MA (Narratives in addition to letter grade)
Conservatory Prep Senior High
Davie, FL (Narratives in addition to letter grade) *

The Cambridge School of Weston The Cambridge School of Weston (also known as CSW or The Cambridge School) is an independent, coeducational high school in Weston, Massachusetts. Currently, the school has 325 students in grades 9 to 12, with approximately 70% day students an ...

(Short narratives in addition to letter grade) *

Lehman Alternative Community School The Lehman Alternative Community School (LACS) is a public, alternative, combined middle and high school in the Ithaca City School District in Ithaca, New York. The school serves grades 6–12 with approximately 305 students. History In 1974, p ...

(Grades are never used) * The Urban School of San Francisco (Extensive narratives; GPA is provided at end of year and trimesterly from 11th grade onward) *

Hamden Hall Country Day School Hamden Hall Country Day School is a coeducational private day school in Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant". The population was 61,169 ...

(Short narratives in addition to number grade) * Francis W. Parker School in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(Narratives in addition to letter grade) * Oakwood School in San Fernando Valley (Narratives in addition to letter grade) *

Hopkins School Hopkins School is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational, day school for grades 7–12 located in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1660, Edward Hopkins, seven-time governor of the Connecticut Colony, bequeathed a portion of his estate to found s ...

(Short narratives in addition to letter/number grade) * Metropolitan Regional Career & Technical Center ("The Met") in Providence, Rhode Island

(Narratives are converted to grades for college admissions purposes) *

Wildwood School Wildwood School is an independent progressive K–12 school located in Los Angeles. Wildwood was founded as an elementary school in 1971, by a group of parents led by a young lawyer named Belle Mason. The secondary campus (middle and high schoo ...

in Los Angeles

(Narratives are converted to grades for college admissions purposes) *

The Madeira School The Madeira School (simply referred to as Madeira School or Madeira) is an elite, private, day and boarding college-preparatory school for girls in McLean, Virginia, United States. It was established in 1906 by Lucy Madeira Wing. History Or ...

(Short narratives in addition to letter grade) * San Roque High School (now called Garden Street Academy) in Santa Barbara, California (Narratives in addition to letter grade) * Saint Ann's School,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

(Grades are never used) * Pacific Crest Community School in Portland, OR (Grades are never used) * Pierrepont School in Westport, CT (Grades are never used) * Jefferson County Open School in

Lakewood, Colorado The City of Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census making Lakewood the fifth most populous city in Col ...

(Letter/number grades are never used) * School One in Providence, RI (Narrative evaluations used in addition to Pass/Fail marker) *

Stonesoup School StoneSoup School was an alternative private school located in Crescent City, Florida in the United States. It was a member of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools. Overview StoneSoup School is a small alternative school based ...

Crescent City, Florida Crescent City is a city in Putnam County, Florida, United States. The city is located on two lakes and is part of the Palatka Micropolitan Statistical Area. Crescent Lake lies to the east of town and Lake Stella is located to the west.https://ww ...

(Narrative GPA constructed at end of 12th grade) * Youth Initiative High School

(Grades are never used) * Tremont School in Lexington, MA

(Grades are never used) * Trinity School at Greenlawn: South Bend, I

(Narratives in addition to letter grade) * Trinity School at River Ridge: Twin Cities, M

(Narratives in addition to letter grade) * Trinity School at Meadow View: Falls Church, V

(Narratives in addition to letter grade) *

Sagesse High School Sagesse High School, Mary Mother of Wisdom is a private, Catholic co-educational school located in the suburb of Ain Saadeh, Matn District, Lebanon (30 minute drive from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport). Sagesse High School operates unde ...

: Ain-Saadeh, Lebano

(Narratives in addition to grade scores) * Allendale Columbia School in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

(Narratives in addition to letter grade) * Bard High School Early College: 6 locations in the United States, including NYC, Cleveland, Baltimore, Newark, and Washington D.C. (Narratives in addition to letter grade) * Waring School, Beverly, MA (Grades are never used; written evaluations at midterms, longer written evaluations at ends of semesters)

External links

History and explanation of narrative evaluation system at Santa Cruz

The Role of Narrative Evaluations at the University of Redlands
Education in the United States Student assessment and evaluation Alternative education

High school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...s that use narrative evaluations

External links

High school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
s that use narrative evaluations