Grade inflation pervades American schools from the K–12 level through the graduate level. The trend is particularly pronounced in the humanities fields and in departments, schools, and colleges of education (DSCEs). This problem presents a leadership opportunity for DSCEs to develop and implement a credible and meaningful grade-distribution system.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdelmanC. (1995, May 17). A's aren't that easy. New York Times, p. A19.
2.
AdelmanC. (1995). The new college course map and transcript files.Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
3.
AlexanderS. (1993, April 27). Trophy transcript hunters are finding professors have become an easy mark. Wall Street Journal, p. B1.
4.
ArchiboldR. (1998, February 18). Just because the grades are up, are Princeton students smarter?New York Times, p. 1.
5.
ArchiboldR. (1998, May 24). Payback time: Give me an “A” or else. New York Times, p. D4.
6.
ArensonK. (1997, July 28). At CUNY, a debate on grade inflation. New York Times, p. B3.
7.
BellJ. (1984). Grades, grading standards, and academic awards.Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Office of Undergraduate Research. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 248 790).
8.
BellottF. (1981). Relationship of declining test scores and grade inflation. Paper presented at annual meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 304 440).
9.
BerkowitzS. (1992). Satisfactory progress rules and the grades of students.Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Policy and Planning.
10.
BirnbaumR. (1977). Factors related to university grade inflation. Journal of Higher Education, 48, 519–539.
11.
BraceyG. (1998). Grade inflation and the extinction of .400 hitter. Phi Delta Kappan, 79, 548–549.
12.
CashinW. (1988). Student ratings of teaching: A summary of the research.Manhattan: Kansas State University, Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 302 567).
13.
CizekG. (1996, April 17). There's no such thing as grade inflation. Education Week, pp. 22, 32.
14.
ComarowA. (1999). Grades are up, standards are down. In McGrathA. (Ed.), 1999 America's Best Colleges (pp. 19–20). New York: U.S. News & World Report.
15.
Commencement ‘94 bonus. (1994, June 13). Time. p. 19.
16.
CraftH. (1997). Grading: The games we play. Principal, 77, 57–58.
HudsonJ. (1989). Expected grades correlate with evaluation of teaching. Journalism Educator, 44, 38–44.
35.
JansonM. (1987). Ethics, grades and grade inflation: Student evaluations as a factor in multi-sectioned courses. Paper presented at the Joint Meeting of the Central States Speech Association and the Southern Speech Communications Association. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 281 259).
36.
JuolaA. (1975, January 14). Broadcast.WKAR.
37.
KolevzonM. (1981). Grade inflation in higher education: A comparative study. Research in Higher Education, 15, 195–212.
LevineA. (1994, January 14). To deflate grade inflation, simplify the system. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B3.
42.
LondonH. (1996). Do our grading systems contribute to dumbing down?NASSP Bulletin, 80, 117–121.
43.
ManzoK. (1998, June 17). Weighted grades pose dilemmas in some schools. Education Week, p. 1.
44.
MarkleinM. (1997, August 27). SAT scores up but so is grade inflation. USA Today, p. 1.
45.
MillmanJ., SlovacekS., KulickE., & MitchellK. (1983). Does grade inflation affect the reliability of grades?Research in Higher Education, 15, 423–429.
46.
MitchellL. C. (1998, May 8). Inflation isn't the only thing wrong with grades. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A72.
47.
MitchellN. (1997, June 22). Duval County parents are proud. Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), p. A1.
48.
NaughtonJ. (1997, July 25). Athletics on top-ranked teams lack grades and test scores of other students. Chronicle of Higher Education, pp. A43–A44.
49.
NelsonJ., & LynchK. (1984). Grade inflation, real income, simultaneity, and teaching evaluations. Journal of Economic Education, 15, 21–37.
50.
OldenquistA. (1983). The decline of American education in the ‘60s and ‘70s. American Education, 19 (4), 12–18.
51.
OrdovenskyP. (1996, October 25). Test critics decry trend. USA Today, pp. 1–2.
52.
PedersenD. (1997, March 3). When an A is average. Newsweek, p. 64.
53.
PerrinN. (1998, October 9). How students at Dartmouth came to deserve better grades. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A68.
54.
RogersB. (1983). A time series approach to the longitudinal study of undergraduate grades. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 235 228).
55.
RushinS. (1998, August 24). Scorecard. Sports Illustrated, p. 15.
SamuelsonR. (1994, August 1). Merchants of mediocrity: College Board nationalizes grade inflation. Newsweek, p. 44.
58.
School to change way of calculating class rank. (1995, June 13). The Indianapolis Star, p. B4.
59.
SheaC. (1994, January 7). Grade inflation's consequences. Chronicle of Higher Education, pp. A45–A46.
60.
SobelR. (1998, August 31). News you can use: America's best colleges. U.S. News and World Report, p. 78.
61.
SolomonW. (1998a, May 10). Class rank a problem for students with straight A's. Allentown Morning Call, pp. A1, A4.
62.
SolomonW. (1998b, June 9). Parkland graduation makes perfect sense. Allentown Morning Call, p. B5.
63.
StaplesB. (1998, March 8). Why colleges shower their students with A's. New York Times, p. D16.
64.
StoneJ. E. (1995). Inflated grades, inflated enrollments, and inflated budgets. Educational Policy Analysis [On-line]. 3, 11. Available: http://olam.ed.asu.edu/epaa
65.
StraussV. (1997, June 12). Seeking to slow grade inflation. Washington Post, pp. A1, A17.
66.
Student sues alma mater for changing grade policy. (1998, January 6). Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A8.
67.
SummervilleR., RidleyD., & MarisT. (1990). Grade inflation: The case of urban colleges and universities. College Teaching, 38, 33–38.
68.
SuslowS. (1979). Grade inflation: End of a trend?Change, 9, 44–45.
69.
TemkinE. (1995, May 17). Nobody ever flunks this course. Education Week, p. 35.
70.
This year's freshman: A statistical profile. (1997, January 17). Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42.
71.
TroutP. (1998, July 24). Incivility in the classroom breeds “education lite.” Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A40.
72.
Van BronkhorstE. (1998, April 19). High school grades are up nationwide but are kids smarter?Allentown Morning Call, pp. A16–A17.
73.
WeissK. (1997, January 13). Survey finds record stress in class of 2000. Los Angeles Times, p. A1.
74.
WellerD. L. (1984). Attitudes toward grade inflation: A survey of private and public colleges of education. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 18, 51–56.
75.
WellerD. L. (1986). Attitudes toward grade inflation: A random survey of American colleges of arts and sciences and colleges of education. College and University, 61, 118–121.
76.
When everyone gets an A, grades are meaningless. (1997, March 25). USA Today, p. 12A.
77.
WildavskyB. (1994, June 9). The grade inflation reverberation hits campus. San Francisco Chronicle, p. 1.
78.
WilsonR. (1998, January 16). New research casts doubt on value of student evaluations of professors. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A12.
79.
WoodL. (1994). An unintended impact of one grading practice. Urban Education, 29, 188–201.
80.
ZiomekR., & SvecJ. (1997). High school grades and achievement: Evidence of grade inflation. NASSP Bulletin, 81, 105–113.
81.
ZirkelP. (1988). Academic freedom of individual faculty members. West's Education Law Reporter, 47, 809–825.