Increasing evidence suggests that students’ average grades continue to rise (grade inflation) across American higher education. One popular explanation for why is tied to the dependence on contingent labor. Administrators commonly determine teaching effectiveness, and faculty renewals, through student evaluations of teaching. Insofar as a student’s grade and their evaluation of teaching are positively correlated, contingent faculty (adjunct, contract, and probationary) feel pressure to increase grades in order to improve their student evaluations with the ultimate aim of keeping their jobs. Assuming this view (on student and contingent faculty behavior) is accurate, this paper will argue that there is another way of evaluating faculty that takes control away from student opinion and places it instead in student performance. It is widely recognized that student evaluations are an indirect and unreliable measure of learning. A better approach is student learning outcome assessment which provides a direct and more reliable measure of learning. Assessment data could be used, instead of student evaluations, to measure contingent faculty effectiveness. Insofar as grades are independent of assessment, contingent faculty would feel less pressure to inflate grades for job security. One might object, however, that if contingent faculty are responsible for assessing student learning in their own courses – where this data will be used to determine whether they keep their jobs – there will still be pressure to increase assessment scores (if not grades). This paper will conclude by arguing that this problem, though real, can be mitigated by deploying expert community-based assessment practices.

Authors:
Bryan Hall, Mindstream Consulting, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Bryan Hall is the Senior Academic Consultant for Mindstream, an education and management consulting company. Dr. Hall is also a Professor at Regis University. He has published three books and several articles in Philosophy and Higher Education.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-hall-811087199/

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