Felten analysis refutes grade inflation claims

A new memo from computer science professor Edward Felten claims the ability of a University grade to differentiate student work has only decreased 11 percent over the last 30 years, contradicting one of the arguments used to justify the recently released grade inflation proposals.

The memo should be released to the faculty today and was emailed to Dean of the College Nancy Weiss Malkiel on Thursday.

Malkiel, one of the primary authors of the proposals, has supported the proposals partly on the grounds that grade inflation at the University has devalued grades and decreased their ability to show meaningful differences between students' academic performances.

For the memo, Felten analyzed data from Malkiel's 2003 faculty memo, "Truth in Grading: Proposals and Questions."

"This study is evidence against the claim that grade inflation has made a huge difference in the grading system," Felten said. "There has been a decrease in the content of grades, but not as much as one would think. These numbers argue against making changes to the grading system."

A comparison of six Ivy League universities and Stanford University reveals that while Princeton may be the vanguard in addressing grade inflation, the University's grade distribution is hardly exceptional and reflects Ivy League and national trends.

A report released by Harvard University Dean of the College Benedict Gross in February of this year, for example, revealed that in the 2002-2003 school year, 22.4 percent of grades awarded were As while 25.4 percent were A-grades.

A recent article in the Columbia Spectator showed similar numbers for Columbia University, with As making up 22.4 percent of undergraduate grades in 2002-2003 and Agrades making up 22.3 percent.

At the University of Pennsylvania, 51 percent of grades given in the School of Arts and Sciences are within the A-range, Director of Academic Affairs Kent Peterman said.

While Princeton has not released numbers for 2002-2003, a 2003 report from the Committee on Examinations and Standing revealed that between 1997 and 2002, 21.2 percent of grades given in 100 to 400 level courses were As and 21.7 percent were grades of A-.

Cornell University boasts slightly lower averages than the other Ivies, with A-range grades accounting for 41 percent of undergraduate grades assigned in 2000. Though this percentage is low among the Ivies, it still represents a 10 percent increase over 12 years.

"Despite this increase, no one here has a sense that this is a crisis situation," Cornell's Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs Isaac Kramnick said. "Also, I doubt Cornell would pursue a policy like Princeton's to deal with this because of the decentralized nature of the university."

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Over the last 10 years, the mean GPAs at Ivy League universities and Stanford have remained similar. Between 1997 and 2002, the mean GPA in 100 to 400 level courses at the University was 3.36 while the average GPA at Harvard rose from 3.38 in 1997-1998 to 3.41 in 2002-2003, according to Gross' report.

The website created by Stuart Rojstaczer, a professor of environmental science at Duke University, www.GradeInflation.com, reports that the mean GPA at Columbia in 2000 was 3.36 while the mean GPA at Dartmouth in 2001 was 3.33. The website compiles data on grade trends at public and private universities across the country.

Rojstaczer's website also shows that the mean GPA at Stanford had risen to 3.44 as early as 1992, the last date for which information is available.

Officials at Yale and Brown would not comment on grade distribution or mean undergraduate GPAs.

Though grading trends appear to be similar among the Ivies, several administrators at these schools said there were no plans to consider proposals similar to those of Princeton.

"It's very unlikely," John Bravman, the vice provost of undergraduate education at Stanford, said in an email, in regard to whether Stanford would consider implementing a similar plan. "If we woke up one day and found that everyone was getting an A in every class, or if we had some significant indicator that a Stanford degree was somehow being devalued, then we would do something about it."

Administrators at Cornell and Penn also said they would probably not pursue similar plans even if the Princeton proposals passed. However, Peterman added, "If Princeton succeeds in passing and getting faculty to comply with the proposals, it will be a powerful impetus for other universities to come back to this discussion because this policy could possibly devalue our grades."

Though Harvard official John O'Keefe, the assistant dean for undergraduate education, indicated that Harvard had no plans underway to combat grade inflation, Kenan Professor of Government Harvey Mansfield said the proposals had sparked a lot of interest there.

"There are a lot of students and faculty who are embarrassed by this scandalous situation," Mansfield said, referring to the high level of grade inflation at Harvard. "There is no way that half of the students at a university can be excellent. I think there certainly is some interest among faculty and our president as well [in looking into this issue] — inflated grades are bad for our reputation."