News: Easy A – Inside Higher Ed

News: Easy A – Inside Higher Ed.

This article in Inside Higher Education summarizes research that shows how common As are in higher education. It supports the accusation of grade inflation over the decades. The average GPA across the nation is now 3.0, a B. This is remarkable when we consider the findings of Arum and Roksa in Academically Adrift that objective assessments of learning show that students learn little during college. How can they receive so many As and know so little when they finish? Whatever they are doing to earn the As does not seem to translate into long-term knowledge.