Grade inflation and grading process: does faculty workload matter?
Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education
ISSN: 2050-7003
Article publication date: 1 January 2024
Issue publication date: 27 November 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on the factors related to faculty workload in the context of resource scarcity to examine whether there is a relationship between them and grade inflation.
Design/methodology/approach
As for methodological novelty, the authors created an indicator of students' expectations about grades that is related to grade inflation and conducted regression analysis using cluster-robust error correction based on this indicator.
Findings
The results suggested that proper workload allocation among the faculty can mitigate grade inflation. Namely, such measures as control for concurrent courses, the length of courses and the labor intensity of the faculty are suggested for grade inflation prevention.
Originality/value
Academic literature posits that a steep increase in average grades might cause a long-term depreciation of the quality of higher education. This article is, therefore, focused on various factors connected with grade inflation in higher education. The authors highlighted problems associated with teaching evaluation imperfections, academic norm transformation and workload intensity.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thanked six anonymous reviewers, the editors and their colleagues for suggestions that increased the clarity of the manuscript. The IRB for this research project was approved by HSE University.
Citation
Ternikov, A. and Blyakher, M. (2024), "Grade inflation and grading process: does faculty workload matter?", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 1937-1955. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-06-2023-0247
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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