College revisits grade inflation

Author: Jason Siegel

On Sept. 6, at the first faculty meeting of the year, the yearlong Ad Hoc Committee on Grading (AHCG) was formed to research the issue of grade inflation over the past few years at Middlebury. The committee was born out of preliminary research that the Educational Affairs Committee (EAC) conducted last spring. Some of its findings included the fact that a student who earns a "B+" in every course during his or her college career graduates in the bottom half of the class - more than half of all students graduate with Latin honors, including more than 10 percent summa cum laude - and an "A-" is the most frequently awarded grade.

According to Dean of the Faculty Susan Campbell, at September's faculty meeting there were many "breakout" groups formed to discuss the issue, which is what normally occurs with a given issue at the first meeting of the year. This year, the groups informally discussed three questions: "What factors might be responsible for grade inflation?"; "What are the implications of current grading practices for students, faculty and the curriculum?"; and "What actions could be taken to address the problems with current grading practices?"

Middlebury is by no means the first institution to tackle this issue. Stanford University and Dartmouth College have been battling grade inflation for more than 10 years. Harvard University earned some negative press just three years ago when it was revealed that more than 90 percent of the University's students graduated with honors, by far the most of any college with available information on grade inflation.

For the purposes of the AHCG, grade inflation is considered to be the rise in mean grade-point average (GPA) over the last 10 years. This definition is, to a great extent, consistent with other definitions.

National trends are relatively easy to find. The Chronicle of Higher Education has printed a few articles on the subject, which the EAC looked at over the spring. In addition, numerous university newspapers have conducted and published investigations of their own. One particularly useful resource for checking the national patterns is GradeInflation.com, a Web site owned and maintained by Duke University Professor Stuart Rojstaczer.

According to the site, the national average GPA has risen just 0.15 points over the last decade, from 2.94 to 3.09. At private schools, the range is considerably higher, going from 3.11 to 3.26 from the 1991-1992 school year to 2001-2002. Over the last 40 years, the national GPA has climbed almost 0.6 points, nearly the difference between a "C+" and a "B." Middlebury's data was not included in the study.

Associate Professor of Biology Helen Young, one of the members of the committee, worries that grade inflation can carry negative consequences. "Grading is no longer distinguishing the excellent students from the others," said Young.

Practical solutions have yet to be discussed according to ADHC Chair and Associate Professor of Biology Andi Lloyd. "Nothing is on the table yet," she said.

Other colleges have come up with a variety of responses to grade inflation, such as Wellesley, which instated a bell cuve policy. The New College in Florida gives no grades at all. Still other colleges and universities have examined the issue and taken no action, something the AHCG has not yet ruled out.

According to Lloyd and Young, one of the main goals of the Committee was simply to generate conversation about the topic. One important question to be addressed will be, "What does an 'A' mean?" The Committee does not necessarily expect a consensus across all disciplines. Indeed, uniform, neutral criteria used to evaluate lab reports, artistic endeavors, literary essays and communication skills in foreign languages are difficult to find. However, the faculty has decided that the issue is worth exploring, if for no other reason than to facilitate discussion.

In its initial stage, the Committee already has much information available to it, including the mean GPA over the last decade as well as a breakdown by division.

According to Lloyd, the next step is to get a more detailed look at the data. The Committee will look at the average grades in seminars versus large lecture classes to get a sense of the range of grades. It hopes to also analyze classes by level.

The scope of the Committee will primarily be on Middlebury in itself. However, the AHCG has every intention of comparing the College to its peer institutions as well as looking at national trends. Lloyd expressed interest in seeing "how this fits in the puzzle" of the national scene.

Rojstaczer, the author of GradeInflation.com, cites a number of reasons why the national mean GPA has gone up, including some identified by the AHCG.One reason is that students are simply achieving more and performing better on standardized testing. Rojstaczer tries to dismiss this claim as insufficient to fully explain the trend. Affirmative action, another oft-cited cause, actually coincided with a slowdown of grade inflation.

Rojstaczer's explanation is that the rise correlates with "the emergence of a consumer-based culture in higher education," though he admits to having no solid evidence to prove his case.

Student opinion on grade inflation is varied. Lee Ware '06 said, "As a political science major, it is sometimes frustrating to see majors in other departments with significantly higher GPAs for not much more work."

Tim Bahls '06 suggested that "difficulty of grading varies from teacher to teacher...Grades may reflect to some degree who you chose for a teacher rather than the difficulty of classes." Ware and Bahls agreed, however, that while grade inflation at Middlebury is worthy of attention, it is not a serious cause for concern.

The issue was a topic of discussion for the Student Educational Affairs Committee (SEAC) last spring. Then-SEAC Chair Scott Buckley '06.5 reported that the group's research showed that students did not perceive grade inflation itself to be a problem, but rather the disparity in grading between departments. He also believes Middlebury is attracting students of higher quality.

The AHCG hopes to report to the faculty at the end of fall term.