How ironic that people studying education are suspected of having inflated grades.

Debra Erdley of Trib Live reported.

Grade inflation suspected for Pa. state-owned universities’ education majors

Figures from Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities that suggest would-be teachers are the top students at those schools could be a red flag for grade inflation, according to a study by a national group monitoring teacher training programs.

The National Council on Teacher Quality says a study of 12 Pennsylvania universities shows prospective teachers graduating with honors far more often than students in other majors.

The disparities suggest there is grade inflation in the education programs, said Kate Walsh, the council’s president.

Walsh fears lax grading in teacher-prep programs fails to prepare students for the demanding work of teaching.

But officials with Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, overseer of the state-owned universities, dispute the notion. They say it’s the higher minimum grade-point averages required to enter and graduate from education programs that account for a larger number of honors graduates.

The study examined graduation records from 509 universities nationwide. Researchers found about a third of the schools graduated education majors with honors, well within the average for all students at those institutions.

Yet they found alarming statistics among education graduates at most of Pennsylvania’s state universities, Walsh said.
Those education students were almost 50 percent more likely to earn honors than all of the graduates from the same university combined, the study found.