Grade inflation: causes and cures

ABSTRACT The grade point averages of college students have increased annually since the early 1960's, while scores on standard aptitude tests have dropped. Most educators believe the escalation of grades is not due to increased learning or better students. Hence, the phenomenon is often referred to as “grade inflation.” The five causes of grade inflation discussed are 1) innovations like Pass/Fail options in grading systems, 2) a rise in anti‐elitist philosophy, 3) increased use of mastery learning and competency‐based evaluation without appropriate accommodations in grading systems, 4) student evaluation of instructors, and 5) competition for student enrollments both within and between institutions. The authors propose a package of four reforms to eliminate grade inflation and allow grades to effectively perform their positive functions of feedback, record‐keeping, and motivation. The first reform calls for appropriate use of and clear separation of norm‐reference and criterion‐reference grading. Second, numerical scores would not be lumped into letter grade categories. Third, readily interpreted, standardized scores would be used as grades. Finally, transcripts would provide some information to describe the populations with which students are compared when standardized scores are used.