A recent report detailing grade inflation at UNC Chapel Hill has caught the eye of UNC system President Erskine Bowles, who said Friday he plans to soon review the issue.

The report, written by an economics professor for UNC-CH’s Faculty Council, was a snapshot of the fall 2007, when 82 percent of all grades given to undergraduate students were As and Bs.

More A grades were given that semester than any other grade, prompting many faculty to say that grading has gotten out of hand.

The problem, many say, is that it is becoming increasingly difficult for top students to distinguish themselves because so many get high grades.

Bowles said he heard from at least several members of the UNC system’s governing board after a story about the issue ran in the News & Observer.

“I’ve had some discussions with [UNC Chancellor Holden] Thorp,” Bowles said Friday. “It’s something we will review in the coming months.”

While many faculty say the growing number of high grades on the UNC-CH campus is a problem, others, as well as some students and parents, say high grades are simply the result of hard work. Bowles said Friday that while the issue concerns him, he has not yet looked into the matter enough to declare whether grade inflation is a problem in need of a solution.

But he said a review is worthwhile.

“We have to protect the brand,” he said. “I want to make sure that when someone graduates from the University of North Carolina, employees know...they are hiring someone with a degree of real value.”
The UNC-CH report was the result of some lengthy number-crunching by economics professor Donna Gilleskie, who spent weeks analyzing more than one million grades dating back to 2000. A similar report in 2000 found that 77 percent of grades given then were As and Bs.

Among Gilleskie’s recent findings: the average undergraduate grade-point average has increased steadily, from 2.976 in 1995 to 3.2 in 2007.

Bowles said he cannot say whether grades are rising across the state university system because he doesn’t have campus-by-campus data.

Note: You can read the grade inflation report by clicking on the attachment below.

Documents:

At UNC Chapel Hill, lots of students are getting great grades, and some on the faculty are quite concerned.

Sound odd? Shouldn't students get good grades? Doesn't that reflect success both on the part of the student and the professor?

Yes, and no, many would say. A recent UNC-CH faculty grade inflation report, which you can view by clicking the attachment below,  suggests that so many students are doing so well that it is becoming difficult to distinguish between the best students and many of the rest.

One compelling piece of data - 82 percent of the grades issued in fall 2007 to undergrads were As and Bs. That's up from 77 percent in 2000.

Here's the story. In reporting the story, I asked plenty of people one basic question: If we start with the assumption that grade inflation does exist, is it, by definition, a problem?

Plenty of faculty members I spoke to, as well as several students, say yes. Parents of students who left me messages on my voicemail have a different view, pointing out that many of today's students go through more rigorous courses in high school, take tougher college courses, and test out better than students did 10 and 20 years ago. So, they argue, of course they get better grades.

That, of course, is a completely reasonable viewpoint and just drives home the point that grade inflation is a murky, complicated issue.

There are those who object to the notion of grade inflation altogether. Here's one view.

So what do you think? Is it okay for most students to get very high grades? Should the university ramp up testing and grading?

Documents: