Contracts & Evaluations
Contracts
At New College we believe that a student’s progress should be based on demonstrated competence and real mastery rather than the accumulation of credit hours and letter grades (See Principle 3 of the Four Principles!). In support of this ideal, we developed the contract system. Every semester you meet with your faculty advisor to discuss your goals, choose your classes, and plan your academic and co-curricular activities. You also establish a criterion against which your success that semester will be measured. “Do well in all courses,” “satisfy the requirements of four out of five courses,” or “complete my senior thesis” are some common criteria for successful certification of the contract.
Contracts take the place of credit hours at New College. Instead of earning hours per class taken, students must satisfy the requirements of seven contracts to graduate. These contracts usually include from three to five academic activities (some combination of courses, tutorials, internships and independent reading projects). After turning in the contract, which is part of the registration process, a student can “renegotiate,” which is the equivalent of adding or dropping courses, with the permission of the contract sponsor. Students are encouraged to check in with their advisors several times during the semester to reflect on their experiences or discuss their concerns. All faculty members hold regular office hours, and expect for their first-year advisees in particular to check in.
Because of the contract system, talking with faculty at New College outside of class is not optional--it’s mandatory. Conversations begin during orientation week, when you meet your first New College advisor, a tenured or tenure-track member of the faculty. As your plans for work at New College become clearer, you may move on to another advisor whose work reflects your interests more closely. This faculty member, the contract sponsor, must approve your choice of classes each semester, and will help you connect with other faculty members who can further support your goals.
Narrative Evaluations
When you complete the courses and other activities specified in your contract, the instructor for each class writes a narrative evaluation of your performance. New College is one of the few institutions in the US that provides students narrative evaluations instead of letter grades. Whereas letter grades set up a system that compares you to your peers, narrative evaluations focus more on individual achievement and the need to develop further skills. Some students have commented that when they receive grades, a class ends and they often stop thinking about the material covered in class that semester. In contrast, narrative evaluations represent an invitation to continue learning, and to keep developing the skills that the course introduced. Narrative evaluations often articulate what you have done well as much as what you can do better, and serve as documents of your experience at New College. As another benefit, some students sense that narrative evaluations lessen the competition that characterizes the experience of high-achieving students.
Contract Certification
When you complete a semester at New College, your faculty advisor reviews your coursework and writes a narrative evaluation of your progress that term, which is called a “contract certification.” In addition to reflecting on your performance that term, it might point you in directions for further support, or suggest areas that reflect your academic strengths. The contract certification and the narrative evaluations provide a foundation for choosing classes the following semester, and the cycle of contracts begins anew.
