This study employs hierarchal linear modeling to examine whether high school grade inflation occurred between 2010 and 2021, including for students who were tested during the pandemic. The study does so while simultaneously accounting for student and school characteristics. This is the first study, to the current authors' knowledge, that makes use…

Research is available on the graduation rates among primarily on-line institutions and traditional universities, but not much on the effect of on-line classes within a university setting. According to Pew Research Center surveys conducted in spring 2011, 89% of four-year public colleges and universities offered online classes, and 46% of recent…

Statistics suggest the prevalence of grade inflation nationwide, and researchers perform many analyses on student grades at both university and college levels. This analysis focuses on a one-credit library instruction course for undergraduate students at a large public university. The studies examine thirty semester GPAs and the percentages of As…

A number of studies have documented a trend of higher grades awarded by postsecondary institutions in both the United States and Canada over the last two decades. Grade inflation in higher education is a potentially costly problem for a variety of reasons, but little empirical research about the causes of grade inflation has been conducted. This…

There is great interest in understanding the potential of teacher incentives to improve student achievement. In fact, teacher incentives, either individual or collective, may improve student achievement if they succeed in aligning the public or social goals with the goals of the teacher. However, an approach in which reward is based on outputs can…

Throughout classrooms in the United States there appears to have been a general watering down of academic standards. The percentages of "A" and "B" grades have risen, and at some schools, the percentage of grades of "C" or lower has plummeted. Numerous scholarly articles about grade inflation discuss the extent,…

Among the academic community, there is a perception that there is an upward shift in grade point average over an extended period of time without a corresponding increase in achievement. This trend has become an alarming topic among educators, industry and the general public. Some attribute increases in GPA to improvements in student quality while…

Data from a 1974 national survey of 134 colleges was presented to verify that grade point averages had increased.404 points from 1965 to 1973. Approximately two-thirds of the increase occurred since 1968 and the 1968 to 1970 period showed the highest average annual increments. Essentially, the same pattern and magnitude of change was revealed for…

This year's survey of freshmen entering college shows that their high school grades are higher than ever. There is at least indirect evidence that competence in basic academic skills is on the decline. There appears to be a trend of students selecting fields less demanding of basic academic skills. (BB)

Examined whether the use of student evaluations of teaching effectiveness has been a contributing factor to a trend of grade inflation in a mid-sized, public university in the Midwest. Found a predictive relationship between student ratings of teaching and expected grades and an encouragement over time of grade inflation. (EV)

A third survey of grade trends was made in summer, 1979 to verify whether the slight drop in college grade-point averages (GPAs) detected in 1975 represented a break in the 15-year trend toward higher grades. Responses were received from 180 colleges from a systematic sample of 361 colleges which offer graduate degrees (a 50% return). The results…

Studied the factors contributing to the widely reported increase in average undergraduate grades by analyzing grades of 22,792 students from the mid-1980s and 29,464 from the mid-1990s. Found evidence of grade inflation in some cases, and grade deflation in others. Findings indicate that academic effort was rewarded consistently across time at all…

An analysis of the pass-withdraw (P-W) option open to students in lieu of a letter grade (A,B,C,D,F) was made at Metropolitan Community College, using data drawn from the fall quarter, 1971, and winter quarter, 1975. Letter grades carried grade points while P-W did not, no academic credit was given for W, and students could take the P-W option in…

College grades are no longer accurate indicators of what students know. Ultimately, students and employers will be shortchanged and the validity of higher education endangered. Factors contributing to grade inflation include emphasis on student self-esteem, new grading schemes, competition for students. Possible solutions include raised admissions…

Declining academic standards will not improve unless institutions of higher education reject the new form of relativism, which continues to be the prevailing educational philosophy. Examples of declining standards are reported, and educational philosophies and the phenomena which encourage the persistence of the current ideology are examined. (JMD)