Former Duke professor responds to grade inflation series

In his latest two blog entries, Stuart Rojstaczer, former professor of hydrology who has been analyzing nationwide trends in grade inflation, responded to The Chronicle's three part series on grade inflation. In the entries, Rojstaczer discusses the data he has collected on rising grades, the measures other schools have taken to combat grade inflation, and his personal experience as a professor at Duke.

At the start of his first blog, Rojstaczer explains that grade inflation is a problem because it causes students to become apathetic and unmotivated with regard to learning. Grade inflation, he argues, cannot be explained by a comparable increase in student effort or quality. Some have stated the students are studying more than they had in the past and that SATs have been increasing, but Rojstaczer said studies have shown that students are studying less now--at 11 hours per week--than they previously had, and SATs have not risen nearly enough to account for the observed increase in GPA.

Rojstaczer offers an alternative explanation for the increase seen in GPA since the 1970s: rising tuition. Although Rojstaczer said he does not believe rising tuition is directly driving grade inflation, he notes that it is a "far better model for explaining rising grades than better students," accounting for over 97 percent of the rise in grades. Regardless of the exact correlation between GPA and tuition, it is consistent with the hypothesis that grades began to rise at Duke and universities nationwide because parents and students began demanding higher grades in exchange for higher tuition, Rojstaczer added.

In his second entry, Rojstaczer states that "soft approaches" to combating grade inflation--such as providing additional information on a transcript and calling rising grades problematic--are not viable solutions. He argues that to fix the problem, the administration needs to implement measures to curb rising grades, and cites three schools that have already taken measures to do so: Princeton, Wellesley and Reed. Princeton decided to limit A's to 35 percent of a class on average, which is similar to the way its science departments already graded a few years ago; Wellesley established a policy to make the average grade a B-plus, after its average GPA rose to more than a 3.5; Reed's grades have remained constant over the last 20 years, through a concerted effort from the faculty and administration.

Rojstaczer notes that though curbing rising grades is difficult, it is not impossible. Graduate and professional schools as well as employers will likely continue to hold Duke students in high esteem--as they have held students from Princeton, Wellesley and Reed--if it chooses to take a stance against grade inflation. Duke has an international reputation for excellence, and grade inflation can be resolved if leadership takes the initiative to fix the problem, he added.

To read Rojstaczer's blog entry, see:

http://www.fortyquestions.blogspot.com/