“It used to signal exceptional work. Now that meaning has been diluted.”
A new research note, building on August’s report, now reveals how the entire grading scale in New Zealand universities is shifting.
It found A grades have increased from 22% to 36% of all grades since 2006, a 64% rise, while B grades have fallen from 47% to 38% and C grades have dropped from 20% to 17%.
The percentage of A grades as a total of all grades has risen slowly since 2006. Photo / The New Zealand Initiative
A grades temporarily overtook Bs in 2020, and are on track to do so permanently within the next few years, the report outlined.
Kierstead said while the August report showed A grades were rising, researchers couldn’t see the complete shift in the grading scale.
“Now we know it is only A grades that are expanding. Bs and Cs are declining. That is classic grade compression.”
Kierstead told the Herald that grade compression means there is a narrower distribution of grades.
Former Victoria University lecturer Dr James Kierstead is now a research fellow at The New Zealand Initiative. Photo / Supplied
“You have a whole array of grades from A to E. You might imagine an equal number of students get each of those grades,” he said.
“Grade compression is when each student is getting either A or B.
“It’s harder for employers and post-graduate programmes to figure out who the really good students are because As are now so common.”
This has been disputed by Universities NZ chief executive Chris Whelan, who reacted to the August report by saying: “We are unaware of any concerns raised by employers as to a mismatch of graduate skills and knowledge with their grades.”
Kierstead wouldn’t be surprised if As have already passed Bs in terms of the most common grade awarded.
“If not this year, it’s going to be in the next five years if the current trends continue,” he told the Herald.
Kierstead fears grade inflation will place New Zealand universities in the same basket as their American counterparts.
“Where rampant grade inflation has long undermined public trust in higher education. Hopefully, this serves as a wake-up call for New Zealand universities,” he said in the report.
A statement from the University of Auckland about August’s report said a wide range of factors contribute to improving grades. Those include better quality of teaching, student pastoral support, and more flexibility to best support how students learn.
The statement explained the Covid spike as the university prioritising helping students in what was “an extraordinarily challenging year”.
Universities NZ highlighted similar factors leading to improved student performance.
Whelan added that external markers are used to sample test grades in relevant courses, such as law.
A student also has 30-odd teachers over a three or four-year university period.
“This prevents any one academic from skewing results upwards.”
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