<p>Ran across this today - interesting data. It has links to GPA data on a lot of schools if you scroll down to the bottom:
National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities</p>
<p>It would be interesting to track that with improvements in the average student test scores.</p>
<p>While I am sure it tracks with average student test scores i’d bet more of the variance is accounted for by the student evalutation process, which many studies have shown follow grade distributions. Tale wagging the dog situation.</p>
<p>If grades are curved, there shouldn’t be much grade inflation. That may explain why Purdue has had minimal grade inflation. Many of their classes are graded on a curve, so grades have remained the same while applicants’ test scores have gone up. </p>
<p>It looks like many of the private schools and some publics use standard grading scales (90 - 100 = A, etc.), and while their students may have entered with increasingly higher qualifications, the colleges’ coursework remained the same and didn’t evolve to better challenge and better educate the higher caliber of students - hence, grade inflation and higher GPA’s.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, the higher the average family income at a school, the higher the grades. (some exceptions of course) Hey, they paid for those A’s, so why shouldn’t the schools provide 'em?</p>
<p>This is kind of sad. I guess schools are doing it to make their students seem smarter but if everyone does it, they don’t get anywhere! I guess this is part of the reason employers look at other information besides GPA.</p>
<p>I wonder what the average GPAs will be 20 years from now.</p>
<p>The author does suggest that grade inflation at susceptible schools could be a product of the consumer culture that has evolved in higher ed. Like mini said, students/their families pay for those A’s, so to keep 'em happy, the schools provide 'em. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>The key data which is missing here is an evaluation of the change in calibre of the student body. If the typical student is significantly better academically wouldn’t it be reasonable to expect the average college gpa to increase also?</p>
<p>I spent my entire working career on the engineering faculty at a public flagship university. During those many years the quality of incoming students gradually improved, my student expectations improved, while the typical grade distribution improved primarily among the bottom third of students which were markedly better prepared for college level work. The top quartile students remained relatively constant.</p>
<p>“while the typical grade distribution improved primarily among the bottom third of students which were markedly better prepared for college level work”</p>
<p>Perhaps the economics of a college education are squeezing out those that aren’t as well prepared.</p>
<p>Our state university system used to be considered a safety. Over the years, students were surprised (or maybe shocked) when they didn’t get accepted. Average SAT scores have been trending up for quite some time. The number of seats is quite limited because of housing and because the Legislature underfunds higher education.</p>
<p>In my son’s school (science and engineering), there is a deflation-inflation dynamic. The courses in the first two years are weeder classes and you really have to be outstanding to get an A. A lot of students do very poorly in the weeders. In the upper-level classes, the grading is done with a very wide band. It is very hard to get an A but a student can get a C while still struggling. There are students that get fail courses or withdraw but not as many as would be expected. Students still have to maintain certain GPA and major GPA values.</p>
<p>Son at a large private school told me that very few students fail. He feels they don’t want to fail a student and **** off a major donor or cause PR problems. C is considered a poor grade.</p>
<p>Son at a Public sees students fail all the time. We are talking engineering students here who came in with very high high school GPAs and not the low students who you might anticipate having problems. They just let the chips fall where they may. </p>
<p>I have always felt the publics have less grade inflation.</p>
<p>I’m not at all convinced that all these kids are “high caliber” these days. I think that in particular high schools spoon feed the kids because they had a certain amount of material to go through to meet newer requirements and I think the analytical and critical thinking takes a third seat. That said, some of the AP classes that my kids have gone through seem OK in terms of rigor for a college bound student. I agree that as competition for slots at college as increased the make-up of the kids at the top flagships has narrowed but I can’t quite “buy into” the theory that the caliber of students is higher in general as a percentage of total college-going students compared to thirty years ago.</p>
<p>As more and more students attend college, one would expect that the quality of students is substantially lower.</p>
<p>Of course, we need to remember that the average age of an undergraduate student in the U.S. is now 24.5. 18-year-olds are the exception, not the rule. </p>
<p>The largest private university in the U.S. by far (and which enrolls almost as many students as all the Ivies combined) is the University of Phoenix.</p>
<p>BCEag, I too had the engineering experience of weeder classes as an Ohio State undergrad. I do not know if anyone does this anymore but way back in the age of dinosaurs the assembles engineering frosh class was asked to look to your left and right and told that only one of you would graduate with an engineering degree. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration but not by huge one. I was stunned by my sub 2.0 first term debacle.</p>
<p>Many of my fellow classmates changed majors by soph year. After a particularly brutal engineering mechanics midterm my room mate and I went out for a beer(3.2 beer back then for us 18 year olds) and I talked him into changing his major to math. Yes he graduated and thanked me years later.</p>
<p>The increase of selectivity filters out more potential trouble kids. Good to see a result of adcom@work.</p>
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<p>While always grading on a curve does keep grade inflation from occuring, it does make comparing between different years quite difficult. I’ve had classes where the professor had taught the same class for 10+ years in a row. Every year they’d recurve the class, even though the tests and homework were approximately of the same difficulty. What does this mean? If you’re in a “smart” year you’re going to be penalized with a stricter curve.</p>
<p>^Which is why I loathe curves. I think they are inherently unfair - either you know the material or you don’t. What’s so hard about that?</p>
<p>The author of that website, a former Duke professor, has addressed rising test scores and the relationship with grades.</p>
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<p>mathmom, I disagree with you about grading curves. In my exams I always included problems which either had an extremely difficult component or entire problems which were extremely difficult. I did this to challenge the very best student(s) in the class and which often times stumped even them. And because midterms typically consisted of 5 or 6 problems, few if any students would be able to achieve an A even if they had learned the material and concepts thouroghly without a grade adjustment. My desire was not only to determine who knew the material, that would be easy, but to determine those who could apply the material in unusual, creative, sophisticated ways. </p>
<p>Certainly I could have perpared a dumbed down exam but it would not have identified for me student which were clearly tops in the department. This information helped me tremendously when looking for undergrad TA/LA’s, academic advising and assisting them with grad school applications. Although I would have loved to advise them all, it was gratifying to personally contact colleagues at other universities they were considering.</p>
<p>The other thing that has happened, besides a huge increase in average age of undergraduates (to 24.5), there has been a massive increase in racial and ethnic minorities attending, which could also account for the increases in GPA.</p>
<p>^^ Exactly, originaloog! What you describe is exactly the type of educational experience both of my D’s want. :D</p>