Skewing the curve

Some say Penn students are becoming smarter. Others assert that professors are loosening their standards. But whatever the reason, each year, grades are going up.

During the 2004-05 academic year, 54 percent of grades given to students in the College of Arts and Sciences were A-minuses or higher, according to College administrators.

And although College Director of Academic Affairs Kent Peterman said that the annual increase is "a hundredth" of a percent, the upward trend has been consistent, and "it adds up."

Over the last 13 years, Peterman has been analyzing student grade data, and he said this increase could be due not only to faculty grading behavior, but also to the quality of Penn students.

Peterman said that when the University accepts students, it prepares an estimate of how a student would perform at Penn. While Peterman couldn't provide details of the process, he said that the anticipated GPA for each incoming class has gone up.

But some professors think students have simply learned to beat the system.

Chemistry professor Donald Berry, who is chairman of the Committee on Undergraduate Education, said that students know which courses tend to result in high grades and will take those courses instead of more challenging ones to fulfill requirements outside of their major.

But students may not be the only ones to blame.

Peterman said that professors rarely want to be known as the toughest graders in their departments, since this could affect the number of students trying to enroll in their classes. This can lead to more lax grading standards.

In the same vein, Peterman added that no Ivy League university wants to have the lowest average GPA.

This could potentially affect the way that a school is perceived, especially by prospective students.

Since administrators are unable to pinpoint the exact cause of grade inflation, a number of initiatives are being put in place to ensure that future grades are fair and reasonable.

Berry said that as the College prepares to introduce its new curriculum for the Class of 2010, many professors who are responsible for choosing courses to fulfill requirements are using this as an opportunity to strengthen grading standards.

When a faculty panel is selecting courses that will fulfill requirements of a major, the professors will also make it clear to their department that certain courses cannot be included because their standards are too soft, Berry said.

Peterman and College Dean Dennis DeTurck both see faculty awareness of grading trends as one of the best ways to ensure that the increase in the average grade is solely based on greater quality of work.

"We're giving faculty their own data and ... saying, 'Is this what you really intended?'" DeTurck said. "Sometimes, people aren't aware until they're confronted with it."

Another issue that administrators are addressing is increasing communication between faculty and students throughout the semester, so that when grades are posted, students fully understand where their grades are coming from.

DeTurck said that starting this week, the University will launch the Course Problem Notice, which will allow professors to alert students and their advisers of any academic concerns via the Internet. Its purpose, DeTurck said, is to help students bring up low grades as quickly as possible.

But none of these initiatives is a complete answer to the issue of grade inflation, Berry said. He added that at Penn, more discussion is needed before any concrete conclusion can be reached.

"No one likes it, it's the worst part of our job. But it is part of our job," he said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.