The Columbia Spectator reported a few weeks ago on a stolen university document revealing that at least one in every twelve Columbia undergrads scored a 4.0 last semester:
The spreadsheet included 482 Columbia College and School of Engineering and Applied Science students who had flawless grades. It’s unclear whether the figures represent grade inflation, a common accusation leveled at institutions for awarding greater grades than in previous years.
Because the data only includes students with a 4.0 or better, Stuart Rojstaczer, a retired Duke professor who has written extensively on grade inflation, said the numbers were difficult to compare particularly to other schools.
As readers of this blog are aware, we’ve written extensively about the Cornell grade inflation debate over the last year, including here, here, and here. Even the 1 in 12 statistic is difficult to use in a comparison of grade inflation levels amongst schools, as Rojstaczer points out. The best 3% of A&S juniors, all of whom attained a 4.0 GPA last year, are inducted into Phi Beta Kappa at Cornell. The cutoff for graduating in the top 10% in A&S is 3.92, so it’s reasonable to assume that less than 8% of Cornellians graduate with a GPA of 4.0 or higher.
Is there grade inflation or deflation at Cornell?
I took BIOG 1440: Introductory Biology: Comparative Physiology, a popular introductory biology course, in the spring semester of my freshman year. The course subject was engaging and enjoyable; yet, each exam and assignment I did served as a sobering reminder that the course’s median grade would unquestionably be a C+ or B-.
Worse, I discovered from the course curriculum that curving all freshman-level biology core courses to a C+ or B- has been a routine strategy at Cornell for years, indicating grade deflation. Grade deflation, or the act of decreasing a class’s median grade in comparison to other courses or institutions, is a contentious problem at universities that has been recognized on a national level.
Grade deflation has far-reaching and unquestionably disastrous consequences. Because of their apparent goal to “filter out” students, grade-deflated courses are typically connected with negative connotations and titles like “weed-out courses” (i.e. convince students to drop the class and even reconsider their career path due to the difficulty of the course). This is a particularly serious problem for pre-graduate students and engineers. Furthermore, non-pre-grad and non-engineer students, as well as those who simply want to learn about a subject, are unfairly penalized for enrolling in a course that may be interesting to them but is grade-deflating.
I’ve had multiple personal conflicts with the problem of grade deflation as a pre-medical student. I dropped CHEM 2070: General Chemistry I and pondered leaving BIOG 1440 altogether as a freshman because I was afraid of receiving a B- or lower in both semesters. I’ve also decided not to take BIOMG 2800: Genetics, a popular pre-med course, because I’ve heard from my peers that it’s very stressful and tough, with one of the main reasons being that it’s curved to a B- or B.
After experiencing grade deflation, I’ve become dissatisfied with the relevance of GPA in medical school in general. I stopped going to pre-health advising sessions because I thought students were being pressured to pick simpler degrees and take easier courses in order to maintain their GPA. It’s already simple to put more emphasis on getting a good score in class than on learning; grade deflation merely adds to the problem.
Removing grade deflation would allow for more rational approaches to other academic difficulties. Cornell controversially stopped releasing median grade results for all courses online in 2011, a practice that had been in place since 1996. The publishing median grades were a big factor in this decision “Students utilize it to pick courses that offer them good grades, which contributes to grade inflation. In 2008, the University began including median course grades on official transcripts for all undergraduates, which was a contentious move. With grade deflation removed, these decisions could be re-evaluated, if not modified for the better.
Each course would then be on a more level playing field, giving all students an equal chance to succeed academically, regardless of job choice or personal interest.
Interestingly, the University’s decisions suggest a distinct perspective on grade deflation, namely that the benefits of grade deflation may exceed the disadvantages. Encourage students to work hard in order to raise Cornell’s prestige among peer universities is one of them. However, this reasoning ignores the negative consequences of these benefits; while grade deflation may promote a strong work ethic, it also encourages unhealthy competition among students rather than collaboration, because only a small number of students can receive As. As a result, students are more prone to suffer from depression, stress, and mental health problems. It’s important to encourage hard work, but at what cost?
The prominence of high school graduates who utilize academic difficulty to assist them determine which institution they want to attend also limits Cornell’s elevated renown. The proverb “Cornell is the easiest Ivy to get into, but the hardest to stay in,” a familiar refrain among Cornellians and non-Cornellians, reflects the enormous difficulty of various academic programs. If grade deflation is abolished, people will be able to focus more on the other, more favorable features of Cornell, which will aid in their college selection.
However, achieving a careful balance between grade deflation and inflation is difficult. The other extremity of the spectrum, grade inflation, can be just as detrimental. If every student in every subject receives an A+, the grade’s usefulness is lessened, and it is unlikely to reflect student variation in academic performance. As a result, for most, if not all, intro-level and intermediate STEM courses, the optimal median grade would be somewhere between a B+ and an A-. Students would not be penalized for choosing tough courses, but top-performing students would be duly rewarded with an A or A+. Most computer science courses do this, and others do it as well, such as the demanding six-credit introductory Mandarin and Japanese seminars.
Why should we be made to work even harder because we choose to be surrounded by intelligent peers? Cornell is challenging enough to attend with its academic rigor and low admittance rate, so why should we be made to work even harder because we chose to be surrounded by brilliant peers? Eliminating grade deflation will improve our students’ overall well-being and help Cornell preserve its status as one of the world’s most outstanding universities.
Nile Jones is a College of Arts and Sciences junior. This semester, Rivers of Consciousness takes place every other Wednesday.
Which Ivy League has the highest degree of mark inflation?
Carleton and other premier universities recruit students who are accustomed to being at the top of their class. Carleton’s 2022 graduating class, for example, had 77 percent of students in the top 10% of their class and 95 percent in the top quartile.
As a result, many students at Carleton experience decreased grade attainment for the first time in their life.
Despite this, grade inflation at many top-tier universities has led to many students expecting all As.
The Ivy Leagues are the schools most frequently accused of grade inflating.
Brown University has the highest average GPA of 3.73, according to a 2018 study by RippleMatch, followed by Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia.
There are only As, Bs, and Cs at Brown, with no pluses or minuses, and no Ds or failing marks are reported on transcripts, resulting in such severe grade inflation.
Is there grade inflation in the Ivy Leagues?
RippleMatch discovered that Ivy League schools are the worst culprits of grade inflation, with typical student GPAs in the A/A- range. While there’s no denying that students at these schools work hard, it’s worth considering how skewed these averages are due to grade inflation, and whether comparing a 3.7 from Brown University to a 3.7 from Baylor University is fair.
Is there grade inflation at Duke?
I recently sent in my grades for a Duke University undergraduate course that I teach. There was only a little selection: A, A-minus, B-plus, B, and B-minus. There were no C’s of any kind, and no D’s or F’s either. It was a good class, but even when they aren’t, I simply reduce a grade or two, to scores ranging from A-minus to B-minus.
It’s been more than two years since I gave a C. That was around the moment I realized my grading system had grown outdated. The C, which was formerly widely accepted, has suddenly become the equivalent of a Cain mark on a college transcript. Since then, I’ve avoided C’s at all costs.
In college, how common is a C? Not only is C on the decline, but B, long the most popular grade at universities and colleges, has been displaced by the erstwhile symbol of excellence, the A.
For example, C’s currently account for less than 10% of all grades at Duke, which by all accounts is not a “leader” in grade inflation by any means. Given more than a quarter of the time in 1969, the C was a respectable thing. In the early 1990s, A’s beat B’s to the top of the popularity rankings for grades.
The dominance of the A and the decline of the C began in the 1960s, slowed in the 1970s, and then resurfaced in the 1980s. In the Vietnam era, when flunking out meant becoming draft eligible, the prior marks of academic failure, D and F, fell by the wayside. D’s and F’s now account for around 2% of all grades given at Duke, Pomona, Harvard, and other universities.
A review of grade inflation rates at the few institutions that are willing to publish such data reveals that grade-point averages are growing at a pace of roughly 0.15 points per decade on average. Except for the occasional self-destructive student who doesn’t bring in assignments or take examinations if exams are even given almost everyone on campus will be getting all A’s by mid-century if things continue at this rate.
Because it’s nearly impossible for a professor to grade honestly these days, A’s are as prevalent as dirt in universities. If I give some students the Cs they deserve in class, my class will have diminishing enrollments in the future. Low enrollments are interpreted as an indication of poor training in the business mentality of higher education. I’m not interested in being labeled a failure.
High grades are desired by both parents and students. Given that students are paying for an educational product, I am expected to respond to their desires not only to be properly informed, but also to obtain a favorable return for enrolling. As a result, I no longer give Cs, and neither do the majority of my coworkers. And I’m sure I’ll say the same thing about B’s at some point.
University officials, like stock market gurus discussing the Internet boom not long ago, come up with ludicrous justifications to explain grade inflation on occasion. Some leaders claim that we are educating more successfully, or that students are smarter and better than in earlier decades. These explanations are believed by many students and parents. They believe the phony flattery as genuine. Unlike high-tech stock prices, I don’t think the grade inflation bubble will collapse.
My job becomes more challenging as my grades rise. I need to find a way to get the most out of my pupils without using grades as an incentive. True, the absence of genuine grades might be a blessing for some students, especially those who have a strong internal motivation to study. A teacher with a large stick isn’t required for exceptional children. They require educators who will work with them as partners and facilitators in their learning.
However, not every student is as enthusiastic. So, when the most common grade is an A, I have to utilize different methods to urge them to learn: coax, softly persuade. And, to be honest, I don’t believe I have the psychological abilities necessary to approach my aim of providing excellent education to all of my pupils in this climate. If pressed, I believe many of my colleagues across the country would admit to a comparable lack of such abilities.
As a result, today’s classes have a high rate of absence and minimal student participation. In the lack of fair grading, our ability to provide a properly informed public in this country is harmed. Such a failure has enormous ramifications for a free society.
Is there grade inflation at Georgetown?
The number of ‘A’ grades earned at Georgetown has climbed considerably over the last 15 years, according to information maintained by the Office of Planning and Institutional Research.
“What you see is a pretty substantial shift in terms of the number of ‘A’ grades and the number of ordinary to failing marks,” Michael cGuire, executive director of the Office of Planning and Institutional Research, said. “Statistically, there is evidence of grade inflation – you observe fluctuations in the distribution by definition.”
According to recent figures, in the fall of 1999, 46 percent of the grades distributed were ‘A’s or ‘A-‘s. Only 28% of grades distributed in the fall of 1984, ten years before “minus” grades were instituted, were “A’s.” Between 1984 and 1999, the number of students receiving a ‘C’ or below grade dropped from 21% to 10%.
“You might have inflated grades that are true representations of students’ achievement,” McGuire explained, “and what you see in the 1999 figures could statistically be termed grade inflation,” he added, “but there’s no indication that those children don’t deserve good scores.”
James Lamiell, a psychology professor, advised people debating grade inflation to distinguish between high grades earned as a result of low standards and high grades earned as a result of great work. An abundance of ‘A’s, according to Lamiell, may represent the caliber of the student body. “The idea that the broader population will somehow conform to a curve is, of course, ridiculous,” Lamiell added.
In the 1995-96 academic year, the Committee on Georgetown’s Intellectual Life looked into the issue of grade inflation. In 1997, the committee presented its conclusions to the Executive Faculty of the ain Campus, claiming that the core of the grade inflation problem was the university’s inadequate grading standards, as well as the faculty’s low expectations.
In its report, the committee stated, “Many of Georgetown’s undergraduates lack a seriousness of purpose and an intellectual habit of mind, and they accomplish simply what they necessary to retain their grades.” “However, a simple examination of the consistently good grades received by so many of our students revealed that we, their professors, shared blame for the disparity between students’ high grades and the quantity of effort they report.”
Davis’ assessment backed up the Committee on Intellectual Life’s findings. The investigation cited records from as recently as 1996 and found that grading at Georgetown and in comparison to other colleges could be exaggerated.
Between 1974 and 1994, the percentage of ‘A’s at Georgetown consistently grew from 27% to 42%. According to numbers provided by McGuire, that percentage is much higher now.
While the number of ‘A’s granted at Georgetown has risen steadily, the national average has fallen somewhat, from 31% to 29%. This suggests that Georgetown has a higher rate of grade inflation than other universities nationwide.
According to Davis’ figures from 1991, 33% of Georgetown grads had a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, compared to 25% at peer colleges. There are 31 very selective universities in this peer group, including Harvard, Princeton, Duke, and Johns Hopkins. According to Rachel Hoy (COL ’03), Georgetown students study harder than students at other schools, although “some people receive ‘A’s quite easy.”
Despite their good GPA, Georgetown students’ LSAT, MCAT, GMAT, and GRE scores were poor when compared to students at leading graduate institutions, according to Davis’ analysis.
Davis also noticed that Georgetown students’ grades were excellent in comparison to the amount of time they spent studying. Davis noted in his poll that “24 percent of GU students study more than 16 hours per week, compared to 36 percent at peer schools,” based on the results of the 1994 Senior Survey.
Many of Davis’ conclusions were based on data from before 1996, but McGuire’s numbers from 1998 and 1999 also show an increase in the frequency of ‘A’s. This led McGuire to believe that the growth could not be entirely linked to the student body’s academic ability.
“I don’t think you can dispute that our students’ strength has risen that much from 1997 to 1999,” McGuire stated.
Some argue that “grade deflation” will hurt Georgetown graduates in the job market and when they apply for graduate school. The biology department’s chair, Ellen Henderson, said her department strikes a “thin balance” between keeping grade inflation in check and not placing students at a disadvantage when they graduate. She is concerned that Georgetown grads who have had their grades deflated will be unable to compete with students from other schools who have had their marks inflated.
“The students who come to Georgetown are extraordinary,” Henderson said, “and they will compete with students from other colleges.” “How do our students compete for graduate and medical school admissions with students from other schools, the majority of whom inflate their grades?”
Davis’ assessment, on the other hand, suggested the exact reverse. “Employers and admissions committees will read our transcripts in light of the fact that we are a very selective ‘top 25 university.'” He added, “There is no need for our grade distribution to be higher than that of the average peer university.”
The implementation of a norm-referenced distribution is one possible solution to grade inflation. In a norm-referenced system, a test score of 90% can earn a ‘C’ if the class average is 90%. A norm-referenced grade distribution, on the other hand, may be problematic, according to Lamiell, because it frequently leads to a situation in which a student’s mark is based on the performance of others rather than his or her own.
He explained, “I could force the grades into a distribution that looks more like.” “Now come in and enroll in my class.” ‘Professor Lamiell, what do I need to do to get a ‘A’ in this class?’ you ask. ‘I don’t know, and the reason I don’t know is that whether you receive a ‘A’ in this class depends in part on what the other students do,’ I have to tell you. ‘Do you mean, Professor Lamiell, that the mark you’re going to give me isn’t completely dependent on my performance?’ you ask. ‘Yes,’ is the answer.
Davis made various suggestions to address poor standards and grade inflation, including boosting the intellectual level of courses and the workload of students. Most importantly, Davis proposed raising overall grading standards by adopting a grade distribution target close to peer school averages, which would result in a 3.12 average GPA.
Davis’ new grade distribution suggested reducing the definition of a “C” from “acceptable” to “mediocre,” as well as lowering the goal percentage of “A”s awarded from 40% to 30%. ‘B’ grades were targeted at 45 percent, up from 54 percent; ‘C’ grades were targeted at 11 percent, down from 13 percent; and ‘D’ and ‘F’ grades were targeted at roughly the same levels.
In his report, Davis stated, “The percentages given are meant not as quotas, but as benchmarks to be used in setting criteria for individual courses.”
While the Executive Faculty has endorsed Davis’ aims, they are not mandatory; rather, they were established as a guideline for instructors for determining class grades. Several administrators who supported the targets, according to Davis, left Georgetown shortly after the study was released.
Despite the fact that the Executive Faculty accepted these criteria when the Intellectual Life Committee released its findings in 1997, the number of ‘A’s has increased since then.
Lamiell said he was opposed to any solution that would force Georgetown’s grades to follow a pre-determined norm or curve. He believes it is impractical to spend time and money trying to legislate the grading standards of every professor in every department. Any remedy, according to McGuire, would start at the departmental level.
“It all happens at the departmental level in terms of what is enforced, supervised, and checked up on,” cGuire added. “You look at these departments where three-quarters of their students score ‘A’s in their classes. ‘Are your kids truly so strong?’ I think it’s a good thing to ask. Is it true that your kids are more capable than those in this other class, where just 48% of students receive a “A”? This is a 25-percentage-point difference. That’s important.”
Lamiell proposed keeping the current system in place, expecting that students will be given a mark that correctly reflects the quality of their work as tested against a set of challenges devised by the faculty.
“I believe we must rely on the faculty’s good judgment, sense of duty, and dedication to strive to provide a worthy educational experience for Georgetown students – and part of what ‘worthy’ means is hard,” Lamiell added. “All we have to do now is try our hardest, and I believe the rest will take care of itself.”
Does Georgetown have a reputation for grade deflation?
Georgetown University is the country’s oldest Catholic university. Bishop John Carroll founded this private research institution in the posh Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. in 1789, and it is a member of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. Georgetown University is committed to developing the next generation of responsible and compassionate global citizens via a combination of faith, service, scholarship, and research.
The undergraduate program is housed on the university’s main urban campus, which is adjacent to the Georgetown University Medical Center, which includes the schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and other disciplines. The School of Law sits near Congress in Washington, D.C., and the University offers a variety of additional programs around the world, including the School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Mediterranean Studies in Turkey, and Transnational Legal Studies in England. Depending on their interests, students can study at Georgetown locations in Italy, China, Chile, and Argentina.
Undergraduates at Georgetown can enroll in one of four schools: Georgetown College (liberal arts), the School of Nursing and Health Services, the Walsh School of Foreign Service, or the McDonough School of Business. Students can take classes from any of the schools, and they frequently minor in a school other than their major. All of the classes are taught in the context of the Jesuit traditions of social justice and holistic personal growth. A list of remarkable internships accessible to students at ABC News, The Smithsonian, a number of Embassies, The World Bank, on Capitol Hill, and other places comes with a Georgetown education; the University says that 95 percent of students participate in an internship. Georgetown, like some other elite campuses, conducts grade deflation, so don’t expect those As to keep coming in until you start college unless you put in a lot of extra effort. Georgetown University’s list of graduates reads like a Who’s Who of business and world leaders.
Georgetown students live in dorms, villages, or apartments. For the first two years, on-campus student accommodation is required. Around a third of students reside away from school. Student organizations campaigning for worker’s rights, Fair Trade, reproductive rights, and gender violence, as well as a variety of national and international social justice concerns, make Georgetown one of the most politically active student bodies in the country. The university is unusually gay-friendly, has a hipster feel, is vegan-friendly, and boasts a top-ranked ROTC program. There is no such thing as a Greek life. Because of the university’s Jesuit heritage, no contraception are sold on campus, and abortions are not performed at the medical center. If either of these treatments is required, you will have to seek them off-campus, as your student health services plan will not cover them.
At Georgetown, students can participate in a variety of student clubs and publications. The Corporation and its subsidiaries are a $4 million-a-year nonprofit student-run philanthropic organization. The Corp operates Vital Vittles, a campus grocery store; Corp Student Storage and Shuttles, which provides summer and study-abroad storage as well as campus/airport shuttles; Uncommon Grounds, MUG, and Midnight MUGon-campus coffee ships; and Corp Catering, which provides professional catering services. From the facilities staff to the boardroom, The Corp is run entirely by students. For your banking requirements, including student loans, the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union is another fantastic student-run project. The credit union also awards student scholarships on a yearly basis.
With nearly 800 student-athletes competing on 11 men’s and 12 women’s varsity teams, the Georgetown Hoyas are an NCAA Division I program. The Big East Conference is their home. In practically every sport, Georgetown teams succeed, and more than 100 student-athletes have gone on to play professionally in their respective sports. NCAA national championships are held by the men’s basketball team and the women’s cross country team. In track and field, sailing, rowing, lacrosse, soccer, and rugby, Georgetown has also excelled at the national level. Dodgeball, squash, tennis, racquetball, and basketball are examples of club sports. At Yates Field House, students can participate in individual exercise activities as well as group fitness and recreational sessions. The 1876 rowing team chose blue and gray as the school colors to reflect harmony between students from the North and the South. Jack the Bulldog is the Hoya mascot.
Aside from Georgetown University’s academic prowess and Jesuit social justice traditions, there are a few less lofty but more enjoyable traditions. The hands of the 200-foot clock tower are stolen every few years. As students compete for the Customs Day Award, numerous annual traditions are held, including a dunk tank, powderpuff football game, wing eating contest, class vs. class tug-of-war, and more. Other traditions include having your photo taken in the lap of Bishop Carroll’s statue before graduation and participating in the Healy Howl in the campus cemetery at midnight on Halloween.
Put Georgetown University on your short list if you are willing to work harder than you have ever worked before, if you enjoy causes and creating waves, if politics fascinate you, and if you prefer challenges to comfort.
Is it necessary for you to take the SAT? Every few weeks, we host a free online SAT prep seminar. Also, follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook and Google+! Check out our profiles for colleges like The University of Chicago, Pomona College, and Amherst College, among others, to see whether they’re a suitable fit for you.
Does Princeton give inflation a grade?
Yes, grade inflation is alive and well at Princeton, where, according to O’Connor, 55 percent of students received an A-range mark, 34 percent a B-range grade, and 6% a C-range grade during the 2018-2019 academic year. Check out O’Connor’s review of how alive grade inflation is at US News & World Report’s #1 ranked institution his research is simply incredible. This isn’t the first time we’ve noticed something like this.
Is there grade inflation at Emory?
Michael Lubin, an Emory School of Medicine professor, sat forward in his chair and asked a gathering of his Emory colleagues a series of questions: “Why does it matter if there is or isn’t grade inflation? What are the benefits of grades? “Can you tell me about your grading philosophy?” He was, of course, asking further questions about the greater issue at hand. What are our options as Emory faculty members in terms of grade inflation? Is this a problem on our campus, and if so, what can faculty do to address it? This was the subject of a meeting held on November 11, 2010 by the Center for Faculty Development and Education.
A workshop was led by Kristin Wendland, Senior Lecturer of Music Theory in the Department of Music, and Christine Ristaino, Lecturer in the Department of French and Italian, to address the numerous elements of this topic. Melissa Bolyard, Director of Educational Research at Emory College, spoke first about the numbers. Even though a few nagging problems remain, she noted in her PowerPoint of “huge scary panels of data” that “regardless matter how you look at it, grades are growing from 1999 to present.” What is presented on the many graphs and tables in the PowerPoint, as reported by Bolyard, indicates “The average grade has risen from a C to a B.” The workshop attendees appeared sure that grade inflation exists at Emory, but they also acknowledged that there are a variety of variables to consider when analyzing this data. Bolyard stated after creating a graph of available data on Emory students and their grades that we only have data for a very short time period and that we still don’t know much about grade inflation at Emory over time. However, the majority of Emory University undergraduates believed that grades were improving at a rapid rate.
Bolyard’s findings bolstered a pre-existing opinion in the room. Workshop participants feel that grade inflation at Emory is a problem, as evidenced by personal experiences now backed up by data. However, they aren’t always certain of the causes for it. Some suggested that pupils are now being taught how to get good scores and pass tests, but they questioned if these students could think critically. Is it possible that grade inflation is the outcome of high student expectations? Lubin believes that at least part of the problem stems from professors’ differing personal grading views. Students expect to make a difference regardless of the reason “A” and teachers appear to be awarding these more frequently than in the past. Additionally, kids arrive at Emory each year with higher grades and test scores than the previous year. Is it true that kids improve each year, or is there already grade inflation in high schools? One area of agreement among the participants was that they do not believe there is a link between improving grades and a student’s academic ability.
Doug Mulford, a lecturer in the Chemistry Department, proposed that his fellow attendees dig into personal experiences after looking at the quantitative data. “How widespread is grade inflation at the university? “Are we all using the same rubrics?” He went on to say that Emory lacks internal standards that are consistent across departments. Quantitative rubrics that are similar across subjects would ensure that student complaints are kept to a minimal while grades were deflated. The issue is that essays in the humanities, for example, are far more subjective than science’s multiple-choice questions.
A handout was issued to urge participants to think about the phrases used in the meeting in order to facilitate the discussion. Grade inflation is defined differently by scholars, academics, and media. We should use the phrase ‘grade compression,’ rather than ‘grade inflation,’ according to Leonard Carlson, Associate Professor of Economics. His point of view was founded on the technical distinction between inflation and compression. Inflation doubles the value of numbers, which is not the case with the academic grade scale.
Faculty members shared their own case studies at this point in the debate. Mulford stated that some students place a higher value on grades than understanding, and that students will abandon a class if they are not likely to receive a passing grade “A” Ruth Parker, a professor in the School of Medicine, gave an example of a student’s belief that he or she is entitled to an education “In her class, she received a “A.” Every year, she asks pupils to rate themselves, but she does not give them the mark they believe they deserve. Her findings show that performance does not correlate with achievement, despite the fact that pupils increasingly believe they are entitled to one “A” Another concern she has noticed over time is the rising amount of cheating. Instead of looking at each other’s papers, students can just text each other responses. As a result, technology, in combination with a lack of ethical standards, appears to be at the root of the problem.
Rachelle Spell, a Senior Lecturer in the Biology Department, added to the discussion by responding to Michael Lubin’s question about the use of grades by saying that while students are placing an increasing importance on getting an A, “Employers have been known to ignore grades entirely and make up their own entrance exams in order to get a “A” in each class. Employers may have discovered that grades are not a reliable measure of an individual’s academic ability.
Laurie Patton, the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Religion and Director of the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, was curious about what could be done to address the problem. She claims that tenured or full professors can take the risk of challenging grade inflation or compression since they are unconcerned about promotion. She went on to say that in this way, there will be leadership and we will be able to witness what can be accomplished in our collective academic lives. However, colleges that adhere to a rigid grade inflation policy, such as Princeton, have received mixed reviews. After all, who doesn’t want to get an A? “A”
According to Lubin, the first step in combating grade compression is to disclose grade distributions and get the information out in the open. This will call attention to the problem and broaden the debate. He believes that at least some of the problem stems from Emory’s lack of a clearly articulated policy. For example, if the institution decides that only two or three students would be accepted, “Students’ expectations will be lower, and teachers will be less compelled to inflate marks if they receive “As” in a class. Many others stated that Emory faculty should align grading with student evaluation, albeit the definition of “student assessment” is a topic for a future discussion. Several faculty members in the panel believed that grading rubrics would help with the transition since students should be able to understand why they are receiving the grade they are, as well as how they could have done better.
In the early phases of this potential project, Spell recommends focusing on the concepts of openness and transparency. Faculty members must make information about grade compression widely available so that a larger group of Emory professors can participate in the debate. The CFDE intends to bring attention to this issue and continue the discourse about grade compression at Emory.