Grade Inflation

Nursing School Grade Inflation

I have had grade inflation on my mind a lot lately for a couple reasons.  I fear the MCON is the king of grade inflation in some ways, and it concerns me that students are not fully prepared to practice in the role of RN.  Despite being able to memorize basic information I am not confident in some students abilities to act as competent members of health care teams.  Is it the students fault?  I am not entirely sure, if we are not challenged to learn concepts and only required to memorize a few simple facts to pass a test basic human nature will take over and students will become lazy and only memorize those simple facts.  I have been fighting to continue to dive into material truly learn concepts despite being spoon fed answers from instructors.

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Here are a couple quotes from an article regarding grade inflation within BSN programs that I read this morning.

"The assignment of grades serves two basic purposes.
The first is to inform students about their achievement
both individually and in relation to their classmates. The
second purpose is to inform the public, employers, regulatory
bodies, or graduate schools, of students' performance
individually and in relation to their peers. Both of these
purposes are thwarted by grade inflation (Levine, 1994).
Cizek (1996) believes grade inflation distorts students'
views of their actual competence or achievement. They
are not able to evaluate themselves with any degree of
accuracy nor are they capable of realistically rating their
achievement in relation to their peers. Since graduate
programs and post-baccalaureate professional schools
rely heavily on undergraduate GPAs for selection of students,
if undergraduate coursework is not a valid measure
of students' potential to succeed, there is concern
that admitted students may encounter difficulties in the
process of earning an advanced degree.
The implications of grade inflation for nursing are
quite clear. Since basic nursing education programs lead
to preparation for licensure, grade inflation compromises
the ability to predict success on the NCLEX. This is probably
not true for the students who have legitimately
achieved at the A or B level."