REAL COSTS OF NOMINAL GRADE INFLATION? NEW EVIDENCE FROM STUDENT COURSE EVALUATIONS

Philip Babcock

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Evaluation of Teaching Practices Higher Education Research Studies School Choice and Performance

Abstract

College grade point averages in the United States rose substantially between the 1960s and the 2000s. Over the same period, study time declined by almost a half. This paper uses a 12‐quarter panel of course evaluations from the University of California, San Diego to discern whether a link between grades and effort investment holds up in a micro setting. Results indicate that average study time would be about 50% lower in a class in which the average expected grade was an “A” than in the same course taught by the same instructor in which students expected a “C.” Simultaneity suggests estimates are biased toward 0. Findings do not appear to be driven primarily by the individual student's expected grade, but by the average expected grade of others in the class. Class‐specific characteristics that generate low expected grades appear to produce higher effort choices—evidence that nominal changes in grades may lead to real changes in effort investment. (JEL I21, J22, J24)

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1981Student Ratings of Instruction and Student Achievement: A Meta-analysis of Multisection Validity Studies 2008Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More 2003The Social Multiplier 1997Grading leniency is a removable contaminant of student ratings.2008Principal Indicators of Student Academic Histories in Postsecondary Education, 1972-2000.2005My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student 1999Reform and Teaching: Exploring Patterns of Practice in the Context of National and State Mathematics Reforms 2010The Falling Time Cost of College: Evidence from Half a Century of Time Use Data

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2014The Effects of an Anti-Grade Inflation Policy at Wellesley College 2011Does affirmative action lead to mismatch? A new test and evidence 2021Effect of COVID-19 pandemic on grade inflation in higher education in Turkey 2012Do course evaluations truly reflect student learning? Evidence from an objectively graded post-test 2022Reputation Inflation

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