Grade Inflation in America's Learning Institutions

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Grade Inflation in America’s Learning Institutions
Introduction
The grading of students’ test scores and examination results provide an effective means of measuring learners’ achievement and progress.
Standardized tests, class assignments, and continuous assessment tests are the tools that teachers employ to measure learners’ mastery of syllabus content.
However, the inflation of grades by awarding students more A’s and B’s create an inaccurate picture of learners’ actual competencies.
Grade inflation in higher learning institutions threatens to destroy the credibility of the entire education system.
Poor performance of American students in international test scores suggests that America’s grading system is inflated.
Thesis: The poor performance by American learners in international tests despite scoring high grades in national exams, indicate that there is a problem with the grading system used in American learning institutions. Accordingly, it is necessary to re-evaluate the grading system used in America’s education system in awarding learners’ achievements to ensure that the grades reflect international standards and the true competence levels of learners, and do not compromise the quality of education.
Body
The failure of American students to replicate their high performance in national and school-based exams in international tests suggests three possible problematic areas in the U.S. grading system:
The administered tests do not assess learners in all realms of knowledge.
Teachers award learners higher grades than they deserve.
The letter grading system does not provide an accurate measure of learners’ knowledge and skills competence.
This trend has a big impact on the quality of education, teachers, policy makers, parents, students, and employers.
Inflation of grades compromises quality of education by creating a false impression that students are performing better.
Grade inflation denies teachers the opportunity to identify slow learners, which is useful for modifying classroom instruction to meet the learners’ needs.
Grade inflation prevents policy makers and parents from holding schools accountable for low standards in education.
Grade inflation makes employers to incur additional costs in training graduates who do not possess the skills and knowledge relevant to their job specification.
Teachers have the responsibility of ensuring that the grades they assign students reflect their true competence.
It is ethical to award true grades.
It would benefit learners’ to know their weak areas.
It would help policy makers to allocate resources equitably by focusing on regions with poor performances.
The research seeks to find answers to the following questions:
Does the testing approach employed cover all the relevant realms of knowledge and skills as o...