Grade Information and Grade Inflation: The Cornell Experiment

摘要

Grade inflation and high grade levels have been subjects of concern and public debate in recent decades as student grades have increased considerably in many institutions of higher education across the United States, notably in the Ivy League (Rosovsky and Hartly, 2002). For example, the Boston Globe reported that in 1950, about 15 percent of Harvard students received a grade of B+ or better, whereas in 2007, more than half of all Harvard grades were in the A range (Primack, 2008). Since grades are bounded from above (in most institutions by an A or an A+), grade inflation is accompanied by a compression of grades at the top. Grades are intended to communicate valuable information to, among others, students (identifying their strengths), financial aid officers (allocating funding), graduate schools (making admission decisions), and potential employers (screeningjob applicants). Grade inflation and grade compression depreciate the information content of grades and undermine their usefulness.