A 22-Year Longitudinal Analysis of Graduate Grade Inflation

In a recently published article in PLOS ONE,  Vivien Lee, graduate student, and faculty members Nathan Kuncel and Paul Sackett reported on their findings from a 22-year longitudinal analysis they completed at a U.S. research university of graduate grade inflation.

Grade inflation, which is the awarding of higher-level grades over time without a corresponding increase in student ability or work quality, has been widely studied at high school and undergraduate levels, but largely under-researched at the graduate level. The researchers sought to fill this gap with their analysis, tracking grade trajectories at a research-intensive institution. In their results, they found evidence of graduate grade inflation, specifically mean GPA score increases over time, even after controlling for baseline entering ability (i.e., GRE scores). Additionally, they discovered differences in the magnitude of grade inflation at the master's level versus the doctoral level, speculating that greater enrollment and tuition pressures and a higher reliance on lecture-based pedagogies may be fueling the difference. They also found that grade inflation varied by discipline.

According to the researchers, the graduate grade inflation they found is troubling because it can have real-world consequences, particularly when top grades simply become the default. Employers are less able to identify high-performers, graduate admissions committees are less effective in screening applicants for doctoral programs, and selection committees find it more administratively difficult to award competitive fellowships. And, unfortunately, grade inflation undermines the effectiveness of grades altogether as a meaningful tool to provide feedback to graduate students on their learning. The researchers encourage further research in this area to better determine drivers of this phenomenon and to understand the overall magnitude of the problem.