Academic achievement has too often been a metric by which students define their self-worth. For some students, this focus manifests itself through perfectionism, attaining high grades, and overvaluing extrinsic learning rewards. Students who consider their self-worth to be contingent upon their academic performance often suffer from withdrawal,…

In an effort to reduce failure and attrition rates to increase on-time program completion and graduation rates, many schools are adopting a policy of assigning minimum grades. While justifications supporting the policy are often mathematical in nature, some proponents also claim the practice works to keep students motivated, hopeful, confident and…