The study sought to ascertain faculty perceptions of their own grading practices, opinions of what grading standards ought to be, and knowledge of how other disciplines grade. Opinions were gathered by a survey of teaching faculty at Georgia State University. Analysis revealed that faculty opinions about grading are strongly associated with…

Grading patterns for over 1,000 teachers, giving more than 40,000 grades in approximately 2,000 courses, are reported and a method is introduced both to normalize and stabilize grade data by courses. The findings indicate that the academic field of the course is strongly related to the types of grades assigned, but that academic credentials and…

The opinions of 514 college faculty concerning their grading philosophies, grading patterns, and their knowledge of how grades vary among fields were surveyed and classified according to demographic characteristics of the faculty. Approximately half of the respondents expressed the opinion that there is great variation in the meaning of a letter…

The prevalence of grade inflation was analyzed from over 125,000 final grades, representing 144 undergraduate courses and 9,338 students. Grade inflation was defined as a systematic increase in grades for the same course over a five year period, statistically controlling the student's major and academic and demographic background. There was no…

This study analyzed grades for 55 graduate major fields to determine whether or not there are differences in the grading patterns of the various fields. The study population consisted of 7,002 graduate students with 80,011 grades. The study period extended from fall 1970 through fall 1975. Across the range of graduate major fields of study, grades…

The relationship between performance on a core exam and various academic and background indicators among Georgia State University Master of Science in Urban Life graduate students was studied. Performance on the core examination was studied during 1971-79 to determine: (1) the relationship between core exam performance and core course graduates;…

Selected academic and personal characteristics of the Georgia State University Master of Science Degree graduate students in the College of Urban Life were examined. The sample of 759 students active during the period of 1969-78 were studied in terms of: demographic characteristics, undergraduate environment and performance, the environment at…

The trends from 1970-75 in course-by-course grading at a large public urban university are described. A total of 144 undergraduate courses were analyzed to determine if systematic grade inflation was occurring. Multiple linear regressions were fitted to more than 125,000 final course grades by courses. Most course grading patterns showed little…

The purpose of the investigation was to examine the longitudinal trends in graduate course grades, controlling for selected academic and personal characteristics of students. Stepwise multiple regression was used to analyze 138 separate courses. The study population consisted of 7,002 graduate students who had attempted 25 or more quarter hours as…

Increasing cumulative grade point average at a public university was found to be caused not by a general relaxing of grading standards, but probably because students are moving away from traditional curricula into courses and degree programs with grading standards reflecting their abilities and/or interests. (Author/LBH)