SET Fall 2023 - What Do Grades Mean to Students?

Grades are the dominant lens through which students experience college academics. Yet little research, aside from alarmist statistics-based interpretations of “grade inflation,” has explored grades historically. This seminar will present original research in Baylor’s archives, revealing grading as a dynamic historical phenomenon and uncovering students’ perceptions of grades across the century (ca.1850-ca.1950) in which grading became common and standardized in American Higher Education. In addition to answering basic historical questions related to grading (e.g., When did Baylor instructors start using letter grades? How was grading “on the curve” first introduced?), this research identifies students’ critiques of grading practices that echo concerns of modern educational scholarship: transparency, relation to learning, and cheating. The presentation aims to prompt participants’ reflections about the meaning and value of grading in their own classrooms.