Princeton University may soon limit the number of "A" grades it permits its professors to issue, but don't look for it to happen here at UB anytime soon, said administration and faculty officials.
Princeton is polling its teachers to find out if they support establishing a quota that would cap the number of A's they grant at 35 percent of total grades, down from the 46 percent currently being given. This is referred to as "grade inflation," and is felt by some that awarding high grades to a large number of students makes the grade less meaningful.
At UB, grades are being watched, but not closely, and grade inflation isn't an issue right now. There has been no talk of quotas.
"The last time we looked at it, it was not a problem," said Peter Nickerson, chair of the faculty senate, which has control over grading policies. He said the Senate's Grading Committee, which is responsible for monitoring grading, investigated possible grade inflation a few years ago and determined it was not an issue at UB.
On the administration side, it's not being looked at all, according to Beth Delgenio, assistant vice provost for academic affairs. She said she doesn't know of anyone checking the number of high grades being issued at the university.
"For the purpose of determining whether or not grade inflation is happening at the University at Buffalo, not as far as I know," she said.
The administration leaves grading issues up to the faculty to determine, she said.
"It's really under the (control) of the individual instructor," she said. "That's the way it works at the university. The faculty determines the grading criteria."
William Baumer, a philosophy professor who chairs the faculty senate grading committee, also said he has noticed no increase in the number of A's being awarded, and said instructors' grading patterns generally are reviewed only in exceptional circumstances.
Grading reviews might also occur if students perform poorly in courses they take after getting high grades in a previous course.
This might indicate the students didn't really learn the basics in the first course, Baumer said.
Nickerson said his personal policy is to clearly establish the criteria necessary for an A grade and encourage his students to earn one.
"I tell them, 'I'd love to give you all A's, and if you earn it, you will all get A's,'" he said.
He added he would love to see that happen.
"I'd have to explain it, but I'd explain that I did such a good job teaching," he joked.
Baumer tells the same thing to his classes.
"There is no quota nor policy regarding proportions of any grade in my courses. Students will receive whatever grades they earn. I note that this means that everyone can get an A, and equally that everyone can get an F."
The university sees grading as faculty matter. Any action to curb any grade inflation would be due to faculty input, she said.
"The question would be, 'does our faculty feel that there is the need for change in regard to grading, is there grade inflation?'" she said. Then the faculty would want to assess "if the grades reflect the learning and the type of knowledge they want the students to have."
Nickerson said that individual schools and colleges within the university might look at grading matters separately from the university or the Faculty Senate, but, again, are not concentrating much on how many high grades are being awarded.
"The departments are responsible for making sure the grades are in," he said, "but not necessarily what the grades are as long as they are fair."
Fairness is what the administration is looking for also, said Delgenio, and having grades accurately reflect knowledge.
"Grading is important and accurate evaluations are important because it provides us with guidance," she said, "because it provides the student with feedback, and that's important to a student's own academic and educational growth."
Baumer said he feels quotas on high grades would not be appropriate, and justified only if there were a standard distribution of students with high, average and low skills in all courses. But that distribution does not happen, he said.
"It is unlikely in advanced courses where all or most of the students are majors, and even less likely if admission to that major is highly selective," he said.
Such selection results in a high proportion of excellent students in a single class, he explained, and in such a case a high number of A's could be expected.
He also thinks that quotas could lead to students taking shortcuts to be able to get one of a limited amount of A grades.
"This sets students in competition with one another for a limited good," he said. "That is a motive for, if not an invitation to, plagiarism and other violations of academic integrity."
Besides those issues, it's just that one of a teacher's main jobs is to be able to recognize and assess academic ability and knowledge in students, he noted.
"One of the primary competences faculty are to have is the ability to identify excellent, good, fair and poor scholarship," he said. "They are expected to assign grades accordingly."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
