Reply to Should LACs no longer be considered the model of excellence?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][guardian][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Perhaps the larger picture is that students at the top of the academic pool (top 5-10%) - whether at State Honors colleges or LACs - will have the best post graduate opportunities.   Students selecting a reach LAC with limited/traditional offerings to graduate with a 3.2 vs. attending a State School with a wider range of programs of interest in which they can excel and graduate with honors, seems to be key in determining whether the LAC is worth the $$ and an excellent choice.   [/quote]

Except it's easier to get a high GPA at a LAC than from a highly competitive public university.  Another reason people with money like LACs.[/quote]

Cite your source.[/quote]

http://www.gradeinflation.com/tcr2010grading.pdf
first chart compare public and private

http://www.gradeinflation.com/tcr2012grading.pdf

Sample soundbite which offers explanation of what drives grade inflation -- remember that LACs reward faculty for teaching (typically judged by course evaluations, enrollments) vs universities which care more about research.  Remember also that LAC undergrads, especially the UMC ones are typically headed to professional schools.

The establishment of a consumer-based approach to teaching has created both external and internal incentives for the faculty to grade more generously. Externally, higher grades translate into better future prospects for graduates. This motivation was stated explicitly as the reason that Haverford changed its grading policies campuswide in the early 1970s (Faculty of Haverford College, 1972), and we’ve found evidence in printed faculty governance meeting discussions for a desire to keep grades high elsewhere. Faculty members may sense that institutions similar to their own are raising grades and feel a need to keep up so as not to disadvantage their future alumni (e.g., Perrin, 1998). Scholarship programs that demand minimum GPAs may also provide local external incentives (e.g., Georgia Student Finance Commission, 2011).

The consumer-based approach to undergraduate education has also resulted in a desire to keep students pleased with their class experiences and to measure the degree to which students are satisfied with their instructors and classes. Student-based course evaluations rose in prominence on college campuses in the 1970s, and their use became increasingly common though the 1980s and 1990s. In 1973, 26% of 600 surveyed liberal arts colleges employed student ratings of teachers; in 1983 and 1993, the numbers rose to 68% and 86%, respectively (Seldin, 1984, 1993). These evaluations are used for more than just improving instruction; in the 1980s and 1990s, they increasingly began to play a minor to significant role in decisions regarding pay, promotion, and retention of instructors. The widespread use of course evaluations likely has had a profound influence on grading.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0069258
Shows how even obviously inflated grades give applicants an edge.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/same-performance-better-grades/384447/

https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/the-history-of-college-grade-inflation/

Also, personal experience doing graduate admissions and seeing average 
[/quote]

Interesting that the graph shows that the most grade inflation was at the public flagship university (positive deviation from the mean)[/quote]

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