Grade Inflation for Education Majors

This is not good. [Link]

Students who take education classes at universities receive significantly higher grades than students who take classes in every other academic discipline. The higher grades cannot be explained by observable differences in student quality between education majors and other students, nor can they be explained by the fact that education classes are typically smaller than classes in other academic departments. The remaining reasonable explanation is that the higher grades in education classes are the result of low grading standards. These low grading standards likely will negatively affect the accumulation of skills for prospective teachers during university training. More generally, they contribute to a larger culture of low standards for educators.

Key points in this Outlook:

• Grades awarded in university education departments are consistently higher than grades in other disciplines.
• Similarly, teachers in K-12 schools receive overwhelmingly positive evaluations.
• Grade inflation in education departments should be addressed through administrative directives or external accountability in K-12 schools.

A 2009 report from the New Teacher Project shows that teachers in K-12 schools receive overwhelmingly positive performance evaluations.1 The report has brought much-needed attention to the low evaluation standards for K-12 teachers. This Outlook examines the standards by whichprospective teachers are evaluated during university training. Grading standards in education departments at universities, where much of the teaching workforce is trained, are also strikingly low. In addition to documenting the low grading standards in education departments, I consider some of the likely consequences and discuss possible solutions.

Grading discrepancies:

Too many positive reviews

A superintendent asked a school principal to tell him how many of her teachers were performing well. The principal replied that they were all performing well. Puzzled, the superintendent reminded her that the vast majority of the children at the school were not reading even within a year of grade level, and he asked the question again. The principal's response was unchanged. He then asked the principal which of the teachers at her school would be suitable to teach her own granddaughter. She replied, "Well, if that's the bar, then none of them."10

The overwhelmingly positive evaluations that teachers receive in K-12 schools look very similar to the favorable grades they receive during university training. In their 2008 study, Brian Jacob and Lars Lefgren asked principals from a Western school district to evaluate the teachers in their schools on a ten-point scale, with a one indicating "inadequate" and a ten indicating "exceptional." 

If everyone is rated high, the ratings mean nothing.