Sir, – William Reville ("Grade inflation", November 4th) sounds a warning about "grade inflation" in third-level education, based on the observable fact that the proportion of students getting higher grades in their final degrees has risen over time. His concern is that "Examination grades inform teachers on how well students master their course work and guide employers when assessing the suitability of students for employment. But grade inflation misleads everybody'".
His concerns are based on the misconception that university education is a race, with one outcome, reliable grades. This is not so. Effective teachers know, long before the final grade, whether students have mastered the necessary competencies. There is ample evidence that effective grading drives learning by students, and confirms their competencies, and the skills they have acquired. No real employer uses final degree grades alone to assess suitability. Many larger employers use degree grades as a first cut, because it saves them effort. It also reduces diversity in hiring.
He advocates class rankings as a solution. It’s been known for decades that such rankings are inevitably imprecise – it may be possible to reliably allocate students to the top or bottom half of a class, but that’s about it.
Rankings in many assessments are also affected by extraneous factors, for example mother language, accent, gender, social class and more. “Grade inflation” is a mirage which distracts our attention from what really matters in higher education.
– Yours, etc,
ANTHONY STAINES,
Professor of Health Systems,
Dublin City University,
Dublin 9.