Grade Inflation, Measured
A historical reconstruction of grading distributions across 340 institutions from 1984 to 2022.
Research question
Has the meaning of a grade drifted, and does the drift differ by field and institution type?
Why it matters
Grades carry enormous weight in admissions, licensure, and hiring, on the assumption that they are stable over time. They are not.
Key findings
rise in mean GPA across 340 institutions, 1984 to 2022
institutions with reconstructed transcript distributions
About the project
Mean GPA rose 0.62 points over the period, with almost all of the increase concentrated after 2005.
Drift is markedly steeper in humanities and social science departments than in engineering.
The dataset is the lab's most downloaded public release.