The University Grades Received in Education and Psychology Classes: Documenting Inflated Grades in Education Classes

Abstract

Grades from all undergraduate education and psychology classes at a state university were examined. The university was a leader in the education field, and led the state in number of who got their degrees there. Both undergraduate and graduate level classes were studied for the grades given. The 8119 grades showed that education professors were much more likely than psychology professors to give an A, and much less likely to give an F. Since education students tend to have, in the first place, lower achievement scores than psychology students, these results show that education has markedly lower academic standards than psychology. This may have something to do with the frequent discontent that people express with regard to our schools. Key Words: Higher education, teacher education, psychology, university grading Teacher education and teacher standards in the United States have come in for a great deal of criticism (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 1991; Goodlad, Soder, & Sirotnik, 1990; Grossman, 1990; Harthern & Rolle, 1991; Kramer, 1991; National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 1991; Scrupski, 1999). Teachers are often criticized and seen as doing an inadequate job (Reinhartz, 1988). Some think the standards for choosing are not high enough, and that other fields doing a better job of choosing their professionals. Higher standards lead to fewer succeeding in entering the field, but that tends to assure the quality of those who do make it (Rasmusen, 1999). If we go by achievement test scores, there is some truth to the criticism about ability of teachers. Norms from the Educational Testing Service about the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) (Educational Testing Service, 1992) showed that a score which would be in the 40th percentile for a psychology major would be in the 60th percentile for an education major. In other words, education majors displayed a lower level of ability, at least as measured by the GRE. One's basic ability seems to have a lot to do with how successful one can be in learning (Eisenman, Melville, & St. Andrie, 1994). This study looks at grades received by education and psychology students at a state university that is something of an education leader. It leads it's state in the number of school it produces. School teachers refers to who work below the college or university level, e. g., at the kindergarten, grammar school, middle school, and high school levels. If education classes show grade inflation relative to psychology classes, it would support the view that have an easier academic road as far as grades are concerned and are given better grades, even though they have, on the average, lower GRE scores. METHOD Subjects The analysis consisted of all students at a state university registered for undergraduate education and psychology courses. The total number of students registered for these courses was 8119. This number is greater than the actual number of students involved, since it counts each time a student takes a class. Thus, a student who took two of the classes in this analysis would be counted twice. Procedure Grades were obtained for all students who received grades in all undergraduate education and psychology courses during one academic year, including I (incomplete), W (withdrew) and WF (withdrew failing), as well as the usual grades of A, B, C, D, and F. For education classes, the grades are reported for the following three Education Department subfields: curriculum and instruction, administration and supervision, and special education. Results The education professors grade students in their classes much easier than the psychology professors grade students in psychology classes. Over half the students in education classes received A's, with the exception of special education, ranging from 63. …