The Gentleman's "A": New Evidence on the Effects of Grade Inflation

Autor/inn/en	Lucas, Maurice E.; Figlio, David N.
Titel	The Gentleman's "A": New Evidence on the Effects of Grade Inflation
Quelle	In: Education Next, 4 (2004) 2, S.60-66 (7 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1539-9664
Schlagwörter	Program Effectiveness; Boards of Education; Grade Inflation; Grading; Academic Standards; Elementary School Students; Public Schools; Florida; Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test; Iowa Tests of Basic Skills + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausschuss; Notengebung; Schulnote; Public school; Öffentliche Schule
Abstract	With reports that some of the nation's finest universities have been handing out A's like lollipops at Halloween, the lowering of standards in higher education has become a hot topic. But grading standards in primary and secondary education have received remarkably less attention. There are two major questions related to grading standards. First, to what degree do the grades distributed by schools and teachers correspond to their student's performance on state and national exams? Second, and more important, how does "tough" or "easy" grading affect student's learning? This article presents a study that examines the grading standards of individual "teachers" and how those standards affect student's performance on independent exams. For this study, the authors analyzed confidential data provided by the school board of Alachua County, Florida, which includes the city of Gainesville. The data consist of observations on almost every 3rd, 4th, and 5th grader in the school system between the 1995-96 and 1998-99 school years, allowing them to follow two cohorts with three years of data each. Thus they can see how individual students perform on nationally normed exams as they move from "tough" to "easy" grading teachers and vice versa. The results suggest that elementary-school students learn more with "tough" teachers, with the effects varying depending on students' initial performance levels and on the overall performance level of their classroom. (Contains 3 figures.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Hoover Institution. Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6010. Tel: 800-935-2882; Fax: 650-723-8626; e-mail: educationnext@hoover.stanford.edu; Web site: http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10