Grade Inflation

Lester H. Hunt is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the author of Character and Culture and Nietzsche and the Origin of Virtue.

• ForewordJohn D.WileyPrefaceAcknowledgments1. The Dangerous Myth of Grade InflationAlfie Kohn2. Undergraduate Grades: A More Complex Story Than "Inflation"Clifford Adelman3. Understanding Grade InflationRichard Kamber4. Grade Inflation and Grade Variation:What’s All the Fuss About?Harry Brighouse5 From Here to Equality: Grading Policies for EgalitariansFrancis K. Schrag6. Grade "Inflation" and the Professionalism of the ProfessoriateMary Biggs7. Fissures in the Foundation:Why Grade Conflation Could HappenMary Biggs8. Grading Teachers: Academic Standards and Student EvaluationsLester H. Hunt9. Combating Grade Inflation: Obstacles and OpportunitiesRichard Kamber10. Grade Distortion, Bureaucracy, and Obfuscation at the University of AlabamaDavid T. Beito and Charles W. NuckollsAfterword: Focusing on the Big PictureLester H. HuntList of ContributorsIndexContents

"As state and federal agencies begin to talk about accountability for universities, the topic of grade inflation could become even more politicized. This timely book addresses a topic of significant public interest and does it well. The fact that the contributors disagree, take different approaches, and address different aspects of grade inflation is a virtue." — Kenneth A. Strike, author of Ethical Leadership in Schools: Creating Community in an Environment of Accountability"This book encourages academic communities to engage in constructive debate over their professional responsibilities as evaluators of student academic work. Its greatest strength is that it presents disparate perspectives on the complex topics of grading and grade inflation. The contributors are in a real sense engaged in a discussion on the subject, which makes the book refreshing and intellectually stimulating." — Matthew Hartley, University of Pennsylvania