I should always get an A if I’m smart, right?

This month, students await grades and sign up for next year’s class offerings. Across the country, “A” is the most commonly given grade at universities, the nation’s GPA guru said.

Stuart Rojstaczer, who has written for The Chronicle of Higher Education about grading, runs the website www.gradeinflation.com, which tracks GPA changes across campuses all around the United States. GPAs are rising at both private and public schools. IU is no different.

But to say grades are “inflating” implies a type of thinking IU is moving away from, said George Rehrey, IU instructional consultant.

Rehrey advises teachers to provide information about course assignments that make it possible for students to achieve an A — if they put in the work.

“Grades can be used to separate students by using a curve, or they can be used to guide and motivate students to successfully achieve the course goals,” he said.
He simplified two competing grading theories like this:

STICK Grades single out students. It is not possible for every student to receive an A because students are graded against one another based on test and assignment scores. Some educators call this grading style norm-referenced grading.

CARROT Grades motivate students to meet certain learning benchmarks. There is no quota for grades, and all students can achieve top grades if they excel in the work explained in rubrics. Educators call this criteria-based grading.

WHY ARE GPAs RISING AT IU?
That’s a difficult thing to prove, but new grading techniques could be one answer.
Another factor is students’ ability to drop classes into the middle of a semester, said Burnell Fischer, director of Undergraduate Programs for the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He said he talked to professors who watch their course GPAs soar when students with lower grades drop a class weeks into the semester.

Instructors then lose the lower end of their grade curves. This spring, students could withdraw from a class until March 9, according to the registrar’s website.

IS IU DIFFERENT FROM SCHOOLS ACROSS THE COUNTRY?
No. Rates of inflation at IU have been close to the national average, and IU’s percentage of A’s awarded is slightly higher than the national average, Rojstaczer said.

Rojstaczer collects data on GPAs across the country. Private schools give about 5 percent more A’s and B’s than public universities, he said.

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ME AS A STUDENT?
Look deeper than professor-rating websites.

Check out how your teachers grade, talk to other students who have had them in class, and ask professors how much information you’ll be given before an assignment.
Professors often give a variety of assignments to assess different skills.

“I do not put a lot of stock in testing alone, but I do give detailed descriptions and rubrics for each assignment,” said Thomas Simon, who teaches an introductory-level SPEA class. “I value hands-on learning. No one assignment makes the grade. It’s about doing well across the board.”

DO BETTER TEACHERS GIVE HIGHER GRADES?
It’s not that simple. Teachers develop their own grading philosophies and grading styles.

Teacher evaluations are one way departments assess teachers, but they don’t provide a complete picture of the student-teacher relationship.

Rojstaczer, a former Duke professor, said he once taught a class and gave no A’s. He said an A should only be given for excellent work.

“Grades are not about penalizing students or sorting students but to give due credit to those who are working hard, who are bright and creative,” he said. “You want to give them a mark of distinction.”

Assessing excellence is up to the teacher.

Every professor has his or her own idea of what excellence looks like, but if professors are consistently giving A’s to half or more of their undergraduate students, their idea of excellence may be skewed, he said.