Do Public Student Reviews Penalize Tough Grading Professors?
While online teacher ratings sites are nothing new – RateMyProfessors, the most widely known of these sites, is more than ten years old – they may be contributing to grade inflation. A new Kaplan Test Prep survey of 1,229 college students and recent college graduates* showed that of those who have visited professor rating sites, nearly half (46%) were influenced to take courses based on the “easy grading reputation of a professor.” This supports previous research conducted by Cornell University which found that students shop for classes where the median grade is higher. In fact, a 2009 analysis on grade inflation by a retired Duke University professor that found the average college GPA rose from 2.93 in 1991 to 3.11 in 2006. “Our research shows that many of today’s college students are looking at multiple factors when picking out courses: overall teacher quality that will result in a good learning experience, but also instructors who don’t like to award a lot of C’s and D’s,” said Jeff
