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The Double-Edged Sword of Rubric Design on Grade Inflation: An Australian MBA Quasi-Experiment Study

Grade inflation has been the subject of concern and public debate in higher education. The current study examines the impact of grading rubric design on grading outcomes with two empirical studies, a Monte Carlo simulation study followed by a quasi-experimental study, which is based on a large sample of online MBA course data across six terms from Australia. The results suggest that the specification of a grading rubric directly impacts on the distribution of grades which may subsequently reduce grade inflation. Specifically, our study demonstrates the potential benefits for academics and educational deisgners in adopting tools like the Monte Carlo simulation when setting up rubrics. Further, our study also support the notion that grading rubric could be a double-edged sword in that mis-specified grading rubrics could potentially introduced undesired artefacts that directly contributes to grade inflation. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed in the study.