When I started here at the University of Wyoming last fall, I went through a
new faculty orientation, and the dean gave a talk regarding grade inflation,
and how we should all be aware of the problem. Then he explained something
we keep track of called a "grade differential index," which is a comparison
of students' overall gpa to their grade in your class. Instructors who
consistently grade higher than average end up with positive indices, and the
dean explained that if this happens consistently to a professor across
classes he/she may be called on it. I raised the idea (which another TIPster
already discussed) that people who do a better job teaching than the average
instructor SHOULD have students who get consistently better grades (all
other things being equal), thus would end up with positive indices- making
it difficult to determine in any given case whether someone is a good
instructor or just an easy grader. Of course, since I've been here, my grade
differential indices have been consistently negative :-)
Marty Bourgeois
University of Wyoming
