Grade Inflation for Education Majors and Low Standards for Teachers

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Complete report

Students who take education classes at universities receive significantly higher grades than students who take classes in every other academic discipline. The higher grades cannot be explained by observable differences in student quality between education majors and other students, nor can they be explained by the fact that education classes are typically smaller than classes in other academic departments. The remaining reasonable explanation is that the higher grades in education classes are the result of low grading standards. These low grading standards likely will negatively affect the accumulation of skills for prospective teachers during university training. More generally, they contribute to a larger culture of low standards for educators.

Key points:

- Grades awarded in university education departments are consistently higher than grades in other disciplines.
- Similarly, teachers in K-12 schools receive overwhelmingly positive evaluations.
- Grade inflation in education departments should be addressed through administrative directives or external accountability in K-12 schools.

A 2009 report from the New Teacher Project shows that teachers in K-12 schools receive overwhelmingly positive performance evaluations. The report has brought much-needed attention to the low evaluation standards for K-12 teachers. This Outlook examines the standards by which prospective teachers are evaluated during university training. Grading standards in education departments at universities, where much of the teaching workforce is trained, are also strikingly low. In addition to documenting the low grading standards in education departments, the author considers some of the likely consequences and discuss possible solutions