Grade inflation

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Grade inflation is an issue in U.S. education. The term refers to the phenomenon of increasing academic grades over time.

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[edit] Occurrence and frequency

Grade inflation is the increase in the number of high grades over time. Grade inflation is often conflated with lax academic standards. For example, the following quote about lax standards from a Harvard University report in 1894 has been used to claim that grade inflation has been a longstanding issue: "Grades A and B are sometimes given too readily ... insincere students gain passable grades by sham work." [1]. Issues of standards in American education have been longstanding. However, rising grades did not become a major issue in American education until the 1960s.

The evidence for grade inflation in the US was sparse, largely anecdotal and sometimes contradictory until recently. Hard data were not abundant. A Stanford University report in the 1990s showed that grades had been rising since the 1960s; in an effort to stem grade inflation, Stanford changed its grading practices slightly. National surveys in the 1990s generally showed rising grades at American colleges and universities [2], but a survey of college transcripts by a senior research analyst in the US Department of Education found that grades declined slightly in the 1970s and 1980s [3]. Data for American high schools were lacking.

However, recent data leave little doubt that grades are rising at American colleges, universities and high schools. Leaders from number of institutions, including Harvard University and Princeton University, have publicly stated that grades have been rising and have made efforts to change grading practices. An evaluation of grading practices in US colleges and universities written in 2003, [1], shows that since the 1960s, grades in the US have risen at a rate of 0.15 per decade on a 4.0 scale. The study included over 80 institutions with a combined enrollment of over 1,000,000 students. An annual national survey of college freshmen [[2]] indicates that students are studying less in high school, yet an increasing number report high school grades of A- or better.

The debate on grade inflation has moved from assessment to causes. Are grades rising because standards are being lowered or because students are producing better work?

[edit] Concerns regarding grade inflation

If grades are increasing, but standards have remained the same, then grade inflation should not be a cause for concern, but would be a positive development. Grade inflation would reflect an improvement in students' work. If, on the other hand, grades are rising because standards have been lowered, then grade inflation can be taken as a sign that the quality of students' work is either not improving or decreasing. The noted problems with any possible lowering of academic standards associated with grade inflation include:

  • Grade inflation makes it more difficult to identify the truly exceptional students, as more students come to get the highest possible grade.
  • Grade inflation is not uniform between schools. This places students in more stringently graded schools and departments at an inequitable disadvantage.
  • Grade inflation is not uniform among disciplines. In the United States, it is commonly asserted that grade inflation is more pronounced in the humanities than in the mathematical sciences, leading students to avoid taking classes in the sciences which may prove to be beneficial to them.

Arguments against these points include:

  • It is not a school's job to sort students.
  • Higher grades at some schools reflect better performance.
  • Although grade inflation doesn't evenly distribute through departments, it is arguable, due to the subjective nature of grades, that interdepartmental grading practices were not even in the first place (e.g. how is one supposed to determine the English equivalent of an A's worth of work in Physics?)

Similarly, if one believes the purpose of a school is to better oneself and gain an understanding of the subjects, then one might not care too much if people are getting better grades than before regardless of the cause. Indeed, it could be construed as a positive development since it might lessen the effects that some say grades have (see Punished By Rewards by Alfie Kohn).

For schools that do not modify their letter grade against grade-point reference regarding AP classes often inflate grades by means of an "AP curve" (the formula for which is y = 10\sqrt{x}), where x is the true grade and y is the curved result. The effect of this curve increases for lower grades: a grade of 100 is unchanged, whilst a failing grade of 36 is padded by an additional 24 points, thus making it a close pass in most jurisdictions. The AP curve is generally considered a fair retribution for the added difficulty of AP classes.

Furthermore, those who use grades in determining life outcomes for a student must act as if grade inflation has not occurred, taking the grades at their old, pre-inflated values - otherwise they could simply adjust and grade inflation would not be a serious issue. This could happen either due to neglect, or due to constraints of the grading system itself. For example, if the grading system stipulates an absolute maximum grade, then the problem of picking out the "cream of the crop", discussed below, naturally comes into play.

[edit] Causes

Grade inflation may be caused by decreases in academic standards or increases in student performance or both. The pressure to reduce standards placed on teachers can come from parents, students, and schools. This is especially true since, if other schools or teachers are inflating grades, any school or teacher that takes a "hold out" stance will place its students at a disadvantage. Some educators may feel pressured to give higher grades for fear of students complaining and receiving bad course evaluations, thereby diminishing their reputation and causing them to face lower enrollment in their classes. Indeed, Professor Harvey Mansfield gives two grades to students at Harvard, an official inflated grade, and an unofficial grade that he feels a student deserves [3]. Committees commonly use course evaluations obtained by teachers to help make decisions about awarding them promotion and tenure. A teacher may improve mediocre evaluations by improving their teaching, but what comes most quickly to mind for achieving better evaluations is to give higher grades for assignments and exams. A comprehensive study by Valen Johnson shows a statistical correlation between high grades and high course evaluations [Grade Inflation: A Crisis in Education, Springer-Verlag, 2003]. In a separate analysis of grades at Penn State, the onset of grade inflation in the 1980s corresponds with the onset of mandatory course evaluations.

Professor Hans Oberdiek of Swarthmore College explained during an introductory course in philosophy in 2003 that grade inflation began in earnest during the draft for the Vietnam War. Students with high enough grades could be exempted from the draft; so giving a student a C could cause him to be sent to Vietnam. Needless to say, professors gave higher grades more readily so as not to have this dire outcome hanging over their heads. Before the war, "I used to give out Cs like candy," Professor Oberdiek explained.

While pressures to reduce standard do exist, at some colleges and universities part of grade inflation is the result of increases in student performance. Over the last few decades, the quality of incoming students at some schools as measured by SAT scores and high school class rank has increased. But for many institutions with rising grades SAT scores have been stagnant. Even at institutions where SAT scores have risen, the magnitude of the rise in GPA cannot be explained by increases in student SAT scores alone. Other factors are responsible for rising grades.

Many schools exhibit increases in grades that may not be related to a decrease in academic standards. There are alternative theories regarding the increase in student grades over the years, such as:

  • More schools offer pass/fail options.
  • Students are more focused upon career-preparation today, which means they are more likely to take classes which match their talents.
  • Computers have made students more efficient and allowed them to produce better work.
  • Cooperative learning approaches allow feedback on assignments which improves student work.
  • Students are working harder than ever before.

Countering these claims are the following arguments:

  • Pass/fail options are only taken by a small number of students that isn't not large enough to account for observed rises in GPA.
  • Students still have to fulfill distribution requirements so they are still taking classes outside their main interest areas.
  • Grade inflation persisted throughout the 1990s, a time when personal computer use had already saturated higher education.
  • Cooperative learning approaches are not common enough to account for observed rises in GPA.
  • Surveys of high school students and college students show that they are working less and are less engaged in academics.

A related point is that intelligence (at least as measured by the IQ scale) appears to be rising over time - a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. However, SAT scores of students nationwide have not been rising.

[edit] Possible solutions

1) Assigning more challenging coursework.

2) Ranked grading, or "grading on a curve", provides a constant distribution of marks over a given range, since a student is only evaluated next to their peers. However, since each student is not marked on individual merit, those receiving high marks in a poorly performing class may well be less qualified than those receiving poor marks in a highly achieving class, thus poorly reflecting on the student's outcomes.

3) Report grades on a 100 point scale rather than on a 4.0 point scale.

4) Another solution could come from employers which could consider asking candidates, during job interviews, to show samples of their academic work (like test papers, essays, project write-ups etc.).

[edit] Recent instances

In recent years, Princeton University had earned itself a reputation for awarding some of the highest average marks among the top American universities. In an attempt to combat this grade inflation and reverse this reputation, Princeton began in the fall of 2004 to employ guidelines for grading distributions across departments. Under the new guidelines, departments have been encouraged to re-evaluate and clarify their grading policies. The administration suggests that, averaged over the course of several years in an individual department, A-range grades should constitute 35% of grades in classroom work, and 55% of grades in independent work such as Senior Theses. To date, the administration has not taken steps to strictly enforce these guidelines, instead opting to rely on departments to apply them. Since the policy's inception, A-range grades have declined significantly in Humanities departments, while remaining nearly constant in the Natural Science departments.

Many argue that it places students at a disadvantage when they apply for employment after graduating at professional schools because of the comparatively lower marks on students' transcripts. The student body, for the most part, opposes this system of "grade deflation," but the administration stands by it, saying that other schools will soon follow - despite outright statements from other schools that say they have no plans to implement such policies.

UC Berkeley has a reputation for rigorous grading policies. In most science and engineering disciplines, departmental guidelines state that no more than 25% of the students in any given class may be awarded A grades, and that the class GPA should be in the range of 2.7 to 2.9 out of a maximum of 4.0 grade points [4]. However, data from the University's Office of Student Research indicate that the average undergraduate GPA is about 3.25 (UC Berkeley Undergraduate Fact Sheet – Fall 2004).

Other colleges such as Cornell University and the University of Chicago are also known for their rigorous grading practices. However, data indicate that even schools knows for rigorous grading have experienced grade inflation; for example, a study by Stuart Rojstaczer of Duke University found that the average GPA at University of Chicago increased from 2.50 in 1965 to 3.26 in 1999, which was still below the average of most peer institutions (Meredith Meyer, "GPAs get a .76 boost from grade inflation," Chicago Maroon, January 18, 2005).

[edit] References

  1. ^ ("Report of the Committee on Raising the Standard")
  2. ^ Levine and Cureton, 1998; Kuh and Hu, 1999
  3. ^ http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nytimes/115860887.html?did=115860887&FMT=ABS

[edit] External links

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