Determinants of Course Grades in Allied Health Sciences Programs

Area of Science:

• Higher Education Studies
• Educational Assessment
• Academic Performance Analysis

Background:

• Systematic grade inflation in U.S. higher education poses challenges for evaluating student merit.
• Difficulty in distinguishing high-achieving candidates for employers and graduate programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze grading patterns in four allied health departments over time.
• To investigate the influence of instructor demographics and course characteristics on grading patterns.

Main Methods:

• Archival data analysis of 1,892 course sections across 12 semesters.
• Examination of grade point averages (GPAs) within specific academic departments.

Main Results:

• The Department of Social Work exhibited the highest semester GPAs.
• Course characteristics accounted for approximately 20% of the variance in course GPAs.
• Instructor characteristics explained only 3% of the variance in course GPAs.

Conclusions:

• Course characteristics are a more significant factor in GPA variance than instructor demographics in allied health programs.
• Findings suggest a need for further research into the drivers of grade inflation and its impact on academic and professional evaluations.