Re: Grade inflation
At 01:09 PM 2/7/01 -0800, Harry Avis wrote:
(snip)
The authors point out: 1 C is not an average grade, since students must
maintain a C average to remain is school. 2. School like Harvard take the
top 1% of students so an "average" or C grade would be A work elsewhere.
They argue that As and Bs should be the appropriate grade. Most
interestingly, they analyzed data from their own college (Indiana
University, I think) and found no statistical evidence of grade inflation
despite the almost universal impression of grade inflation. Finally, in a
informal study, they found a correlation of -.09 between grades and
student evaluations.
Does anyone know of other studies?
These arguments are interesting, and I need to think more about them. In
the absence
of any specific knowledge of the Indiana U study, though, I'd suggest that
there are
multiple ways to operationally define grade inflation (GI). One would be
an actual increase
in grades/GPA over years/decades. I'm assuming that this was the measure
that the Indiana
folks used when they found no evidence for and found no evidence for GI.
Another conception of GI, however, is that grades have stayed the same in
the face of inferior
work. I'm too young and too new in this biz to have any first-hand
experience in this regard
(making me a beneficiary of GI?). But, I've heard numerous senior
colleagues at multiple
institutions lament about the kinds of exams they gave and the written and
oral expression
that they used to expect 20 years ago. They have claimed that there is
just no way
they could give those same assignments now and have a reasonable number of
students pass.
Of course, this could just be "golden age" type thinking ("when I was
young..."). However,
there might be reasons to tentatively buy it. High school graduates who
may have never
even thought of attending college (or, perhaps, of even finishing high
school) 25 years ago are
now enrolling. If the population of colleges/universities is now accepting
a larger proportion
of high school grads than they used to, then even if the quality of h.s.
education remained
constant (which some would argue with), then one would expect that the
quality of the
average college student's work should be decreasing. If grades have
remained constant
across this time period, it is at least suggestive of the latter type of GI
I mentioned above.
I know what my mom would say. She's been teaching English (now mostly
grammar) at
a secretarial school for almost 30 years. When she started, her classes
were made of up many
h.s. grads with A averages. College just wasn't considered to be an
alternative for some
women then. To hear her tell it, I bet that she hasn't had an A-average,
maybe even B-average,
h.s. grad enrolled in her entire school in close to a decade. Her
population has changed
dramatically, as has her job. She now teaches grade-school grammar to high
school grads.
Has her grade distribution changed? Nope.
-Mike
Michael J. Kane
Department of Psychology
P.O. Box 26164
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC 27402-6164
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
phone: 336-256-1022
fax: 336-334-5066
Re: Grade inflation
informal study, they found a correlation of -.09 between grades and student evaluations. Does anyone know of other studies? There is plenty of peer-reviewed evidence that indicates a positive correlation. For a complete list of references on this matter, see Greenwald, A.G. Gillmore, G.M. (1997). Grading leniency is a removable contaminant of student ratings. American Psychologist, 52, 1209-1217. In fact, American Psychologist contains several articles (Nov. 97, Nov. 98) in which the utility of student evaluations are debated. There appears to be no argument over the positive correlation between grades and ratings - the controversy is over how to interpret this correlation. I wouldn't put any stock in the "informal study" mentioned above. --Steve
RE: Grade inflation
I guess I am using my tips bandwidth to basically just thank Rick for his comments on the GI article. I have to completely agree with Rick on his comments. As I was reading this article, and I was VERY tired, I thought to myself that there was something drastically wrong with the picture being portrayed of an academic combatting grade inflation with.grade inflation! and the JUSTIFYING IT because IN PRIVATE, behind closed office doors, the truth is told. I had printed out the article and was going to read it more closely to see what I was missing and thank Rick for saving me the sanity and time in pointing out the flaws in the original paper. annette Annette Taylor, Ph. D. Department of PsychologyE-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] University of San Diego Voice: (619) 260-4006 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 "Education is one of the few things a person is willing to pay for and not get." -- W. L. Bryan
RE: Grade inflation
Whenever students complain about the amount of material in my classes I tell a joke about a professor who never gave an A in his class. One semester a student was going to do whatever it took to get an A. She read all the required and recommended readings. Read the references in those readings did every assignment participated in class and at the end of the semester she only got a B. When she went to the teacher and asked for an explanation the teacher said "there is only a B's worth of material in the course." Gary J. Klatsky, Ph.D. Department of Psychology[EMAIL PROTECTED] Oswego State University of NY http://www.oswego.edu/~klatsky Oswego, NY 13126Voice: (315) 312 3474 -Original Message- From: Richard Pisacreta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 1:45 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Fwd: Grade inflation I thought that some of you would find this interesting. Rip Pisacreta Teacher Fights 'Grade Inflation' The New York Times February 7, 2001 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON (AP) -- Harvard University professor Harvey C. Mansfield's reputation of being a tough grader earned him the nickname ``Harvey C-Minus.'' Now he is getting attention for his one-man stand against what he calls grade inflation. The government professor is giving students who take his class this semester two grades: an official grade that will go on their transcripts, and a separate mark he thinks they really deserve. ``I'm trying this out as an experiment ... to address the grievous decline in academic standards at American colleges,'' Mansfield said. Grade inflation started during the Vietnam War when professors gave students higher grades because those with low grades ``could lose their deferment and be sent to war,'' Mansfield said. The practice is now based on the ``notion that education must make students feel good about themselves,'' he said. Mansfield is using the two-grade system in his undergraduate ``History of Modern Political Philosophy'' course. He said it will allow him to evaluate student performance without unfairly damaging their grade-point averages, often used by graduate schools to determine admission. ``People laughed when he first announced it,'' said Roman Martinez, a senior in the class. Students stopped laughing when they realized they would benefit, he said. ``In the past, Professor Mansfield has been giving tougher grades and that punished students who took his class,'' Martinez said. ``This will affect us in that we will get the inflated grades on our transcripts.'' Mansfield's official grades will be based on the average grades of all Harvard's undergraduate classes last year. Citing information from the registrar, Mansfield said 51 percent of undergraduate grades at Harvard last year were either A's or A-minuses. ``And that is ridiculous,'' he said. This semester, he will give that percentage of his students A's or A-minuses. ``His actions are an example to the academic community of a teacher taking his responsibility seriously,'' said Bradford P. Wilson, executive director of the National Association of Scholars. The group was founded in 1987 to fight perceived declines in higher education standards. Wilson said studies have shown that while the number of A's given by colleges has increased in the last 30 years, the number of C's has decreased. Not everyone agrees with Mansfield, a tenured professor who has been on the faculty since 1962. ``Harvey Mansfield is one of the nation's leading political scientists, but this is a stunt to draw attention to his pet peeve,'' said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. Hartle said students today are more prepared for college than they were 40 years ago. ``Baloney,'' Mansfield said. ``Even if students are getting better, we should be applying higher standards.'' While some of Mansfield's colleagues may agree with his position, it is unlikely to lead to a grading revolution, said Roderick MacFarquhar, chairman of Harvard's government department. ``It is fair to say quite a few people agree with him, but I think most people will not follow his lead,'' he said. Even Mansfield is not sure his stand will help. ``It's not a situation that can be cured by one person alone,'' he said. ^-- On the Net: Harvard University government department: http://www.gov.harvard.edu American Council on Education: http://www.acenet.edu National Association of Scholars: http://www.nas.org _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
RE: Grade inflation
My reactions to various comments are interspersed throughout. -Original Message- From: Richard Pisacreta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 12:45 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fwd: Grade inflation Teacher Fights 'Grade Inflation' The New York Times February 7, 2001 The scare quotes should be around the word "fights". He is doing nothing to fight grade inflation and is actually contributing to it by his actions. He gets to have it both ways by saying he is against grade inflation while giving students the higher grade. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON (AP) -- Harvard University professor Harvey C. Mansfield's reputation of being a tough grader earned him the nickname ``Harvey C-Minus.'' Now he is getting attention for his one-man stand against what he calls grade inflation. Translation: He was actually taking a stand against grade inflation when he was giving grades he thought appropriate to the work. He has now caved in and it is ironically only now that he is being lauded for his "courageous" stand. The government professor is giving students who take his class this semester two grades: an official grade that will go on their transcripts, and a separate mark he thinks they really deserve. If he cared about grade inflation he would record the grade he thinks they deserve and tell them the grade he thinks they would get in other classes. ``I'm trying this out as an experiment ... to address the grievous decline in academic standards at American colleges,'' Mansfield said. Grade inflation started during the Vietnam War when professors gave students higher grades because those with low grades ``could lose their deferment and be sent to war,'' Mansfield said. The practice is now based on the ``notion that education must make students feel good about themselves,'' he said. In what sense is this an experiment of any kind? It doesn't even seem to be a naturalistic observation. What data is he going to collect? Mansfield is using the two-grade system in his undergraduate ``History of Modern Political Philosophy'' course. He said it will allow him to evaluate student performance without unfairly damaging their grade-point averages, often used by graduate schools to determine admission. He claims grade inflation is about making students happy and then he turns around and provides his alternate rationale: it is all about fairness in grad school admission. If grade inflation is really a national problem, grad schools must certainly recognize it and place more weight on standardized tests etc. in setting admissions criteria. It is interesting he provides a rationale to defend grade inflation while supposedly striking a blow against it. ``People laughed when he first announced it,'' said Roman Martinez, a senior in the class. Students stopped laughing when they realized they would benefit, he said. ``In the past, Professor Mansfield has been giving tougher grades and that punished students who took his class,'' Martinez said. ``This will affect us in that we will get the inflated grades on our transcripts.'' It shouldn't surprise anyone that students would think this way. (Does anyone doubt that you would not receive a single complaint if you told everyone on day one in a class that they would all receive A's regardless of their performance in the class?) It is unfortunate that a professor would so obviously give in to the pressure (and ironic that he would be praised as taking a courageous stand against the very thing he is now contributing to). Mansfield's official grades will be based on the average grades of all Harvard's undergraduate classes last year. Citing information from the registrar, Mansfield said 51 percent of undergraduate grades at Harvard last year were either A's or A-minuses. ``And that is ridiculous,'' he said. This semester, he will give that percentage of his students A's or A-minuses. ``His actions are an example to the academic community of a teacher taking his responsibility seriously,'' said Bradford P. Wilson, executive director of the National Association of Scholars. The group was founded in 1987 to fight perceived declines in higher education standards. That statement is just a joke. This is an example of a teacher who has caved to the pressure (from whatever sources) and totally disregarded his responsibility to grade fairly. Wilson said studies have shown that while the number of A's given by colleges has increased in the last 30 years, the number of C's has decreased. Not everyone agrees with Mansfield, a tenured professor who has been on the faculty since 1962. ``Harvey Mansfield is one of the nation's leading political scientists, but this is a stunt to draw attention to his pet peeve,'' said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. Hartle said students today are more prepared for college than they were 40 years ago. ``Baloney,'' Mansfield said. ``Even if students are getting better, we
