Grade Inflation at the College of New Jersey

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Grade Inflation at the College of New Jersey

• How we grade, why its bad, what to do
• Mary Biggs, Professor of English The College of
  New Jersey
• Richard Kamber, Professor of Philosophy
• The College of New Jersey

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How we grade today?

• Average GPA 3.1 - 3.2
• Grade Distribution (Spring 2005)
• A 33
• A- 17
• B 13
• B 14
• B- 7
• C,C, C- 10
• D, D 3
• F 2

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But our generosity with grades is not evenly
distributed.A and A- in Spring 2005

• School of Education 77
• School of Art and Media 72
• School of Nursing 64
• School of Culture and Society 45
• School of Engineering 44
• School of Science 37
• School of Business 34

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How do we compare to national averages?

• Higher than national averages.
• U.S. Dept. Of Ed. (Clifford Adelman)
  postsecondary transcript study (2004)
• For 1992 12th graders, transcripts for 8,900
  students gathered in 2000 showed an average GPA
  of 2.74. Those who earned a BA or higher had an
  average GPA 3.04.
• U.S. Dept. Of Ed. Profile of Undergraduates in
  U.S. Postsecondary Institutions 1999-2000
• An average GPA of 2.9 for nation as whole.
• National Survey of Student Engagement (2004)
• About two-fifths of all students reported that
  they earned mostly A grades, another 41 reported
  grades of either B or B, and only 3 of students
  reported earning mostly Cs or lower.

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But probably not higher than equally selective
institutions

• Using GPAS for 79 schools in1998 from Stuart
  Rojstaczers gradeinflation.com
• 3.3 GPA or higher Brown, Carleton, Columbia,
  Harvard, Harvey Mudd, Pomona, Princeton, Williams
• 2.8 3.2 about 65 institutions
• 2.7 or below Hampden-Sydney, University of
  Houston, Norfolk State, Northern Michigan, Sam
  Houston State, SUNYOswego

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So why worry? What it is the harm of grade
inflation? 1Moms Law Harmful practices are
harmful even if others are doing them.

• Like Newspeak in Orwells 1984, a grading
  system whose vocabulary is largely compressed to
  As and Bs, cannot express the range of critical
  distinctions students need to hear and teachers
  are uniquely qualified to make.
• It deprives students of information that could be
  useful for choosing majors and careers.
• It deprives employers and graduate programs of
  information needed to counterbalance standardized
  tests and the cruelly elitist criterion of
  institutional prestige.
• The devaluation of As deprives teachers of a
  formal means of inspiring the long reach toward
  academic excellence.

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Why is grade inflation harmful? 2

• When F is given only to students who drop out or
  fail to turn in assignments rather than to all
  students who fail to meet basic course
  objectives, then colleges adopt the practice of
  social promotion that has stripped high school
  diplomas of credibility.
• It discourages students from enrolling in more
  stringently graded courses and programs.

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Why is grade inflation harmful? 3

• Valen Johnsons ingenious studies at Duke led him
  to conclude
• within the same academic field of study,
  students are about twice as likely to select a
  course with an A- mean course grade as they are
  to select a course with B mean course grade
• if differences in grading policies between
  divisions at Duke were eliminated, undergraduates
  would take about 50 more courses in natural
  science and mathematics
• Frantic and aggressive grade chasing
• Lackluster students now contest grades as high as
  B
• My beleaguered adjunct

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Two excuses for ignoring grade inflation.

• Excuse 1 As long as you have rigorous
  assessment of student of learning, high grades
  are justified (or will take care of themselves.)
• The harmful effects mentioned above are the
  result of giving mostly high grades. Unless
  rigorous assessment leads to fewer high grades,
  it will not diminish these harmful effects.
• E.g. No matter how rigorous your assessment, you
  cant use As to inspire exceptional rather above
  average work when you give 50 of your students
  As.
• But if rigorous assessment leads to fewer high
  grades, then it would diminish these harmful
  results.

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Does rigorous assessment lead to a reduction in
grade inflation?

• Middle States suggest that it can
• If instructors were to match grades explicitly
  with goals, it would be become easier to combat
  grade inflation, because high grades must reflect
  high performance in specified areas. Student
  Learning Assessment, p. 37.
• But no regional accrediting commission collects
  data practices, much less correlates grade data
  with assessment practices. So how do they know?
• The evidence with which I am familiar suggests
  that rigorous assessment does not lead to a
  reduction in grade inflation.

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Two trends and two case studiesTwo Trends

• The assessment of student learning movement has
  been in full swing for the past ten years and
  gained momentum during the past five.
• During this same period grade inflation in the
  U.S. has reached an all-time high.

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Case study 1 the former College of New Jersey

• Most of you know about Princetons adoption of a
  social compact requiring each department to
  assume responsibility for limiting A, A, A- to
  less than 35 overall and to less than 55 for
  junior and senior independent work.
• What you may not know is that Princeton tried for
  four years to reduce grade inflation by promoting
  rigorous assessment and voluntary good grading
  practices.
• But average GPA and the percentage of As kept
  rising. A senior in 2003 with a 2.0 average
  ranked 1078 out of a class of 1079.

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Case study 2 the present College of New Jersey
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• Over the past four years TCNJ has placed
  increased emphasis on rigorous assessment.
• During those years there has been a steady in the
  percentage of As we give.
• In Spring of 2001, 25 of all grades were A. In
  Spring of 2005, 33 of all grades were A.

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Excuse 2 High grades are effective motivators

• It is sometimes argued that whatever the
  drawbacks of high grades they are effective means
  of motivating students to do their best work.
  Is this true?
• One measure of how hard students are working is
  how many hours they spend preparing for class.
• A common rule is that students should spend a
  minimum of two hours outside of class for each
  credit hour they receive. This means that a
  full-time student who is earning 16 credits a
  semester hours in class, should spend 32 hours on
  academic work outside of class.

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The National Survey of Student Engagement (2004)

• NSSE asked freshman and seniors how many hours
  per 7-day week they spent preparing for class
  (studying, reading, writing, doing homework, or
  lab work, analyzing data, rehearsing, and other
  academic activities)
• For spring 2004, the percentage of freshmen who
  reported who spending more than 20 hours a week
  preparing for class was 16 the percentage of
  seniors was 19. Self-reported!
• Only 6 of senior and 4 of freshman reported
  spending more than 30 hours a week.

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What about TCNJ?

• Better but not good.
• For spring 2004, the percentage of freshmen who
  reported who spending more than 20 hours a week
  preparing for class was 24 the percentage of
  seniors was 28. Self-reported!!
• Only 9 of senior and 7 of freshman reported
  spending more than 30 hours a week.
• Next NSSE report for TCNJ is spring 2006.

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What can be done?

• Princeton has chosen to cap As. We could do the
  same.
• Most of the problems could be corrected by
  nation-wide adoption of three principles
• No more than 20 of undergraduate grades at the A
  level
• No more than 50 of undergraduate grades at the A
  and B levels combined
• The grade of F is used to indicate failure to
  meet basic standards for a course and not just
  failure to attend classes or complete assignments
  
• There are steps short of grade caps that you can
  take to reduce the causes and harm of grade
  inflation. Mary Biggs will discuss them.
• Moreover, you dont have to go it alone. You can
  collaborate with other institutions and let your
  accrediting bodies and professional associations
  know that they too are responsible for dealing
  with grade inflation.