While respondents believe that grade inflation is prevalent, they perceive it to be less so in their particular departments and even less so in their own classroom.

Sounds like a headline from the latest Chronicle of Higher Education. Instead, this timely observation on easy A’s and quick B’s comes from a Harvard University committee report, circa 1894.

A century later, the debate continues. Some in the academy view grade inflation as rampant, while others point to studies suggesting the entire idea is a mere myth.

Perhaps the two views expressed in the ongoing debate can be boiled down to a matter of perception? That’s the concept examined in a research project conducted here at Indiana University: How do professors at IU Bloomington perceive the issue of grade inflation? Janice McCabe and Brian Powell published their findings in The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (IU Press, 2004). Their findings are printed in the chapter entitled “In My Class? No.”

The survey’s conclusion suggests that the faculty members interviewed “believe grade inflation is prevalent at the university level, but believe that it is less of a problem in their department than elsewhere and even less so for themselves.”

“The point of this survey wasn’t about asking ‘who is responsible.’… Instead, if it’s the professors that are responsible, then what are their accounts of grade inflation,” said Powell, a sociologist, during a phone interview. “Another issue we wanted to explore was the idea that if grade inflation isn’t happening, why do people think it is?”

The chapter includes comments collected by graduate student McCabe during in-depth interviews with 25 faculty members from IU Bloomington. The faculty represented a range of departments from the College of Arts and Sciences as well as three professional schools.

Five general themes emerged during the interview phase: Perceptions of grade inflation, explanations for grade inflation, grades and student evaluations, ideal grade distributions, and policies to address the “problem” of grade inflation.

One pattern that Powell notes in the chapter fell into the “perceptions of grade inflation” theme. “When faculty were asked about their grade distributions, what grades they typically give out, almost every professor reported lower grades,” said Powell, who then compared the professors’ answers with actual grade distributions. “This speaks to their perceptions…they believe they gave lower grades than what they actually gave. That surprised us.”

Powell attributes this perception, in part, to self-enhancing tendencies prevalent in society. “I think people want to see themselves as tougher, especially when people tend to think that ‘easy’ is not a good thing.” This type of thinking explains why faculty may believe grade inflation is a “problem,” while maintaining that they do not contribute to grade inflation via their own grading standards.

Powell believes the study is one of the first to explore the issue of grade inflation at a public institution. “We hear a lot about grade inflation, but it’s usually talk about Ivy League schools. Most students don’t go to those schools. Why are we focusing on those schools as typical?”

Powell said he was impressed by the thoughtful responses shared by the faculty during their interviews. “(Faculty) have a fair amount of teaching duties here as compared to private research universities. Their responses demonstrate how much they care about the teaching process.”