The Collegiate Learning Assessment ( Cla )

In his article “College Students Need to Toughen Up, Quit Their Grade Whining”, Robert Schlesingner addresses the emerging issue of grade inflation, and more specifically, the greater sense of entitlement that seems to prevail in the modern scholastic realm. Mr. Schlesingner begins his address by presenting his background and what standards and expectations were common during his time through both lower-level education and college. During his time [time in what?], a grade of C represented “adequate” or average work, B correlated with “an above average job”, and obtaining an A required “spectacular” performance by the student. [more concise] However, as cited by Mr. Schlesingner, an investigation by the University of California-Irvine seems to indicate that the values of each letter grade has changed, at least in the mind of the modern student with more students now believing that A’s and B’s should be more easily obtained and that the amount of effort put into a task should be considered when grading. Next, Mr. Schlesingner presents his opinions on this topic of grade inflation and the proper influence of student effort on grade. To conclude,

This is considered as formal method of assessment, which may be carried out in the middle or at the end of course, or

The American College of Healthcare Executives Competencies Assessment Tool is a tool that is used for evaluation of one’s personal development. It is given to healthcare executives to analyze themselves especially in their areas of expertise for healthcare management (ACHE, 2016).

In the United States, the average grade has been slowly creeping up during the past years. This grade inflation has generally been seen as a positive for students and parents, but it has much more detrimental effects for the state of higher education. One person to address these consequences is Brent Staples, author of “Why Colleges Shower Their Students With A's.” In his essay, he not only explains how grade inflation came to be, but he also describes how it is something negative since it is the lowering of standards so that excellence is no longer excellent because of how easily higher grades is given out.

After completing the learning assessments for each of the classes I chose to meet National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration’s (NASPAA) five core competencies, I feel as though I have a much more complete vision of what the MPA program is set out to accomplish for me in my academic and professional lives. The various assignments included in this portfolio were included because I feel they best represent my best work in the MPA program. NAASPA’s core competencies, I believe, are the living heartbeat of the MPA program. They include the ability to lead and manage in public governance, the ability to participate in and contribute to the policy process, to analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems, and make decisions, the ability to articulate and apply a public service perspective, and the ability to communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry. All five of these competencies are crucial to thinking and planning strategically, manage services, understanding the complexities in, managing, and applying effective administration in all aspects of government.

Schools and college professors, who give you a good grade for excellent productivity on assignments, allow students to perform poorly, but still benefit relative to a person with an A. Two articles that observe grade inflation, find the rising problems of grade inflation, and finding solutions for grade inflation. Stuart Rojstaczer, an author from Grade Inflation Gone Wild, is a professor of geophysics at Duke university, and created gradeinflation.com in regards for his concern about grade inflation. On the other hand, Phil Primack is a journalist and teacher at Tufts University, and published in the “Boston Globe” Doesn’t Anybody Get a C Anymore? While college students, who work with little effort and still attain easy A’s by working poorly on assignments and exams, Primack and Rojstaczer, develop a firm connection towards grade inflation and the solution that can regain control over real education.

Louisiana Department of Education states, “The Common Core State Standards are fundamental descriptions of reading, writing, and math skills that focus on the ability to think independently.” (LDOE) Common Core State Standards hold students across the country to the same high bar and allow Louisiana students to see how they perform compared to students across America. “State school chiefs and governors recognized the value of consistent, real-world learning goals and launched this effort to ensure all students, regardless of where they live, are graduating high school prepared for college, career, and life.” (Corestandard.org) Prior to adopting these standards, Louisiana students were learning material that was sometimes even a full year behind several high-performing states. The Common Core State Standard asks students to engage in independent thinking skills such as comparing and contrasting and analyzing characters. Nearing the end of the school year, “Students are tested annually English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies in 3rd through 8th grades. The assessments measure whether each student has gained the knowledge and skills in the subject for their grade.” Students learning will be measured by the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers). Students in grades 3rd through 8th grades will be assessed on the full range of the Common Core State Standards to ensure they are “on track” or “ready” for college and

While college education has always had the reputation of being difficult, it has steadily become easier. This isn’t based on the course load or information; simply, it is easier to achieve high grades. In fact, “Campuswide averages have crept up from a C just 10 years ago to a B-plus today” (Staples). Brent Staples, in his article “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s”, successfully illustrates the concerns with grade inflation. Grade inflation is a complex situation affecting universities which leads to less legitimate degrees.

In the essay “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s” the author Brent Staples states that for the past years many colleges have changed their grading policies in order to make them less strict and more permissive. The author explains that there are several reasons behind this change. According to Staples, this trend is happening due to the need to make less appealing classes more attractive to students. Also, he adds that the demand from parents and students have led to more lenient grading policies to avoid hassle. Lastly, the author expresses that when professors do not give students high grades, they possibly will be given negative comments and evaluations from students that could affect their salary and tenure. Grade inflation devalues college diplomas and put society at risk.

There is proof in the pudding. This cliché has been used an immeasurable amount of times to express that evidence to the claim leads to its legitimacy. It has been speculated for many years that grades are being inflated, and students are receiving A’s for mediocre work. In fact, the introduction of Alfie Kohn’s “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation” shows reports of the matter made by Harvard Professor Harvey Mansfield and Harvard’s Committee on Raising the Standard, respectively, with a gap of over a century (pg. 1). Kohn expresses his take on the matter of grade inflation and asserts that these accusations are false and

In the Fall 2016, HIT 101 course, one student received an A and two students received Bs The lowest score of all students in both midterm and final exams was 76 percent and the highest score was 95 percent.

The main goal of this assessment test is to measure the progress that students have throughout their high school years in relationship with already set high academic standards. The results of the FCAT are used to determine if a student is advancing each year to meet those guidelines.

In “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation,” Alfie Kohn sets out to determine if grade inflation is indeed fact or fiction. The opening quotes provided by two professors at Harvard University separated by over century has most definitely peaked my interest. It had me questioning whether or not these professors are holding our education system to a “Harvard” standard or is their actually truth to their statements; that feigned students are indeed submitting “sham work” (Bergmann, 260). Kohn goes onto indicate that: “To say that grades are not merely rising but inflated—and that they are consequently ‘less accurate’ now, as the American Academy’s report puts it-is to postulate the existence of an objectively correct evaluation of what a student (or essay) deserves” (Bergmann, 263). To theorize grade-inflation is to question the judgment and teaching of all the previous and future educators of America. It also raises the question of why has not there any concert data to support this claim. Why is our educational system delaying this investigation since this concern has been around for years? Especially, now that grade inflation is starting to gain more momentum.

It is the school that expressed concern and by acting upon this they then completed and sent a Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

To understand why formal exams are an issue it must first be made clear what the purpose of education is. In terms of political rhetoric the message for selling education is that it will maximise opportunity, ensure better jobs, create greater social status and raise living standards (Pring, 2013). Academic skills are not the only outcomes of education, there are social skills as well, yet academic skills are the only skills considered to be worthy and therefore the only skills that are tested or examined. The aim of our educational institutes is to promote and improve social, mental and physical well being whilst transferring academic knowledge.