Grade inflation runs rampant at most colleges and universities, but
faculty and administrators are seemingly unwilling to face the problem.
This book explains why, exposing many of the misconceptions surrounding
college grading. Based on historical research and the results of a
yearlong, on-line course evaluation experiment conducted at Duke
University during the 1998-1999 academic year, the effects of student
grading on various educational processes, and their subsequent impact on
student and faculty behavior, is examined. Principal conclusions of this
investigation are that instructors' grading practices have a significant
influence on end-of-course teaching evaluations, and that student
expectations of grading practices play an important role in the courses
that students decide to take. The latter effect has a serious impact on
course enrollments in the natural sciences and mathematics, while the
combination of both mean that faculty have an incentive to award high
grades, and students have an incentive to choose courses with faculty
who do. Grade inflation is the natural consequence of this incentive
system. Material contained in this book is essential reading for anyone
involved in efforts to reform our postsecondary educational system, or
for those who simply wish to survive and prosper in it.
Valen Johnson is a Professor of Biostatistics at the University of
Michigan. Prior to accepting an appointment in Ann Arbor, he was a
Professor of Statistics and Decision Sciences at Duke University, where
data for this book was collected. He is a Fellow of the American
Statistical Association.
