Grade inflation and grading process: Does faculty workload matter?

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. 2024. Vol. 16. No. 5. P. 1937–1955.

Ternikov A., Blyakher M.

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: учебная нагрузка, регрессионный анализ, regression analysis, инфляция оценок, Grade inflation, Lenient grading, Teaching effort