Issue 21, Fall 2001

William A. McEachern, Editor

Grade Expectations

From time to time, The Teaching Economist reports on the annual survey of incoming freshmen by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute (http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/heri.html). The results of 270,000 students from 434 colleges and universities have been statistically adjusted to represent the 1.1 million freshmen entering four-year colleges as first-time, full-time students in the Fall of 2000

Only 36% of entering college students report studying or doing homework six hours or more a week during the previous academic year. This is down from a high of 47% in 1987, when the question was first asked. Despite the drop in study time, grades continue to rise, with 43% of entering freshman earning an "A" average in high school, up from 36% in 1996 and a low of 17% in 1968. Those reporting a "C" average fell to 7% - down from 15% in 1996 and a high of 23% in 1968. So in 1968, "C" students outnumbered "A" students. Now "A" students outnumber "C" students 6 to 1.

What Grade inflation in high school has boosted grade expectations in college. The share of students who believe they have a "very good" chance of earning at least a "B" average rose from 52% in 1999 to 58% in 2000. That's a stunning jump in one year. When the question was first posed in 1971, only 27% expected at least a "B" average. A record 21% of freshmen also expect to graduate with honors, up from 18% in 1999 and from a low of only 4% in 1967.

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