How can any particular grade-giver give out actual, uninflated grades, if this is not the status quo? For example, if a particular professor resists grade inflation, will they just wind up with very few unfortunate students in their class (especially with the rise in popularity of sites that report a professors typical spread of grades such as koofers.com, pickaprof.com [apparently now myedu.com?], and ratemyprofessors.com)? While it seems unfair to inflate grades, it also seems unfair not to inflate grades if the students will have to compete with other students who may not have received uninflated grades. Many students would want higher grades, many institutions would want their student bodies to have higher grades, many companies hire based partially on higher grades, many grad schools admit based partially on higher grades…
In reality, grades are much more subjective than you might think. In every class, I can tell you who are the “A” students, “B” students, etc within the first few weeks. If you have a class where no one is making an “A”, I would argue you are not teaching it correctly (you have misjudged the level of the class, more prerequisites are needed, etc… See More.) There is a lot of empirical evidence that shows that the grading scale (7 point vs. 10 point) makes little difference in the grades given out. This points to the fact that teachers tend to grade so that the students they perceive as “A” students get A’s. My two cents worth…
In reality, grades are much more subjective than you might think. In every class, I can tell you who are the “A” students, “B” students, etc within the first few weeks.
This seems to imply that students cannot grow through out the semester. Please clarify as I know that was not your intention.
If you have a class where no one is making an “A”, I would argue you are not teaching it correctly (you have misjudged the level of the class, more prerequisites are needed, etc… See More.)
So, say I’m not teaching it correctly (as might be probable for the first things I teach); now what? How do you rectify the situation without inflating the grades? Are there not institutional barriers to having a class miss the bell curve?
There is a lot of empirical evidence that shows that the grading scale (7 point vs. 10 point) makes little difference in the grades given out. This points to the fact that teachers tend to grade so that the students they perceive as “A” students get A’s. My two cents worth…
What if the teacher does not perceive any A students this semester, but only B’s and whatnot? Can the teacher succeed professionally if they do not give out unearned A’s (student evaluations of the professor and maybe even student complaints to administration would seem to encourage the professor to meet the bell curve and insure that regardless of the quality of the students’ work, at the end of the semester, there wouldn’t there have to be a bell curve)?
When I can tell you who are the “A” students in the first few weeks, that is mostly a matter of effort, engagement, etc. rather than knowledge. It is rare that a student becomes engaged halfway through but this past winter term there was one student I would have pegged as a B student who surprised me and performed much better at the end than the beginning of the semester.
The second question is more complicated. When I give a test where no one does well, I try to identify the cause. Were the questions beyond what was taught? If the questions were appropriate, why didn’t the students get it? At the community college the answer was usually that they didn’t have the background. It that case, I might go back and reteach the parts that were most problematic and then retest. These are the issues that make teaching tough. But even in those situations, it is extremely rare that NO ONE makes an A.
As far as the impact on teacher evaluations, this would be a concern if you rarely got A students in your class. As I’ve said, even at the community college this was rare. In a particular class where no students get A’s, you might take a hit on evaluations for that class but it would not likely affect the trend in evaluations.