Grade Inflation Mike Rappaport

Stanley Kurtz discusses some ways to address grade inflation:

Restoring class rank is clearly one way to solve the problem of grade inflation. Under inflation, most grades are compressed at the top of the spectrum. Class rank would effectively restore a comparative curve. Opponents of class rank will complain that students with very similar grade averages are being pushed into different ranks. But that s the point. Ranking defeats the strategy of bunching everyone s grades at the top.

Yet disclosing class rank isn t the only potential solution. Quota systems could also play a role. The could be limits to the number of A s that could be assigned in a given class. And quotas could also be used to limit the number of honors graduates. In effect, limiting the total number of honors graduates, and keeping the usual three-level honors distinction (summa cum laude, magna cum laude, cum laude), would be a way of restoring class rank at the higher levels, without directly designating which students are in the lower ranks. If quotas for graduation honors were publicly adopted by a group of prestigious schools, it would create strong pressure on schools that refused to join the system.

Another way to defeat grade inflation is to include more information on transcripts. For example, beside a student s course grade, a school could include the average grade in that course. This would expose and devalue the inflated grades in easy classes.

USD Law School actually does some of these things, although in recent years it has moved a bit in the wrong direction.