An Example of Grade Inflation

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Back when I was teaching over the pandemic, there was a kid who barely showed up to class Zoom sessions, never did HW, and scored worse than random guessing on tests. Parents unresponsive.

I put an F in the gradebook and sent a heads-up email to my supervisor.

The response:

“But he’s a bright kid. He did well on the entry test 3 years ago. He has potential. But he may need some help outside of class. It’s our job as educators to be there for our students. Are you going to be there for him?”

Later found out the grade got changed to a C.

Answers to Follow-Up Questions

Q: Doesn’t “worse than random guessing” mean the kid actually knew something?

A: No. The “worse than random guessing” was falling for distractors that look appealing if you’re just trying to use surface context clues without actually having learned the material.

(My interactions with him confirmed he lacked the skills, which was unsurprising given that he wasn’t doing the work.)

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