The Pros and Cons of Grading on a Curve [eBook] - The Cengage Blog (2024)

FAQs

What are the cons of grading on a curve? ›

Instructors typically use grade curving to boost scores when the class average for a particular exam or assignment is low. Some see grade curving as a way to level the playing field, prevent students from getting discouraged when tackling difficult subjects and help more students pass.

Used correctly, curving can benefit students and ensure that all students receive the same standardized scores. Incorrectly, however, and there will be a sense of increased competitiveness among students (even to the point of some students sabotaging other students just to get ahead) and unfairness.

Grading on the bell curve system can and does impact grades. It can lower or improve student grades, standardize grades across instructors, and prevent grade inflation.

Professors can move up the average score by a set amount. If the class average was 50%, for example, the professor might raise the average to 75%, effectively giving every student an extra 25 points out of 100. Similarly, if the average grade was a D, professors might change all D grades to C's.

Grades can also provide feedback on student performance and help measure progress over time. On the negative side, grades can be used to compare and rank students, leading to feelings of inferiority or superiority. Grades can also create competition among students rather than cooperation.

Professional educators suggest that results should fit "the curve", and in this case that would mean curving grades down. Most students would probably not welcome that practice. Compare the chart of grades below to the chart of cumulative scores above.

Determine the highest grade possible (ex: 100%, 50 points). Find the highest grade earned. Find the difference between the highest grade earned and the highest grade possible. Add this difference in points to each grade to determine a new 'curved' grade.

In a 'normal' distribution, most of the data will be near the middle or the 'mean', with very few figures toward the outside of the bell. Grading on a curve implies that there are a fixed number of A's, B's, C's, D's and F's.

Bell curve grading, also known as grading on a curve, is not very common in high schools, especially in recent years. Most high schools in the United States use a standard grading system with fixed percentages assigned to letter grades (e.g., 90-100% for an 'A,' and 80-89% for a 'B,' etc.).

What is a 75 curved grade? ›

To curve you take the square root of the student's grade and multiply by 10. Looking at the example below, let's say a student scored a 75 on their test. We take the square root of 75, which is about 8.66, and multiply it by 10 giving the an 86.6% curved grade.

What Is a Forced Grading Curve? A forced grading curve is based on a statistical concept called a “normal distribution.” A normal distribution assumes that you have an equivalent number of people above and below average. There will also be a very small number of people highly above average and deeply below average.

Bell curve theory involves the frequency and shape of data sets. If a bell curve is split into eight chunks or sections, the two middle sections from the center will fall on either side of the midpoint, which is 34.1% on either side. 13.6% of the data chunks will fall one step below the mid-point on either side.

An evaluation of grading practices in US colleges and universities written in 2003, shows that since the 1960s, grades in the US have risen at a rate of 0.15 per decade on a 4.0 scale. The study included over 80 institutions with a combined enrollment of over 1,000,000 students.

Grading on a curve refers to the process of adjusting student grades in order to ensure that a test or assignment has the proper distribution throughout the class (for example, only 20% of students receive As, 30% receive Bs, and so on), as well as a desired total average (for example, a C grade average for a given ...

“The traditional grading system is not aligned to learning outcomes,” he says. “Traditional grading is one-and-done in terms of you've learned the content, or you haven't, and the grade you get is the grade you get. A better grading system allows for multiple attempts of content mastery.”

More often, existing systems send the message to students that they don't have what it takes. Bad grades make official what many students already feel about themselves: that they are not good at academic work. This isn't to say that student self-esteem should come before academic challenge.

The major disadvantage of relative grading is that a student's grades don't reflect their understanding of the subject. If a student scores 40/100 on a test and 40 is the highest mark, then he is awarded an A grade, which is not an accurate representation of the performance and knowledge gained by the student.