Improving grading consistency through grade lift reporting

We define Grade Lift as the difference between average class grade and average cumulative class GPA. This metric provides an assessment of how lenient the grading was for a given course. In 2006, we started providing faculty members individualized Grade Lift reports reflecting their position relative to an anonymously plotted school-wide distribution. Two schools elected to participate in this reporting, and two other schools declined. To analyze the effect of Grade Lift reporting, we used paired comparisons of Grade Lift measures for the same faculty teaching the same course before and after reporting has started. Statistical analysis shows that, only in the two schools that participated, there was a reduction in both variance as well as average levels of Grade Lift. If these results can be replicated at other universities, Grade Lift reporting may become a useful tool for increasing grading consistency.