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Pass/Fail, A-F, or 0-100? - Optimal Grading of Eager Students

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  • Lilo Wagner

Abstract

This paper analyzes optimal grading in a world that focuses on top grades. Students choose an effort level, their performance is graded, and their grade correlates with their future income. Ex-ante, the policy maker chooses the optimal coarseness of the grading scale to maximize student welfare. When choosing their effort, students overweight outstanding { or salient { grades. I show that this behavior leads to excessive effort levels when grading is fully informative, and that coarse grading can be used to counterbalance incentives. Thus, salience can help explain why grading ranges from Pass/Fail scales (tenure decisions) via A-F-scales (school) to fully disclosing scores (e.g. SAT).

Suggested Citation

  • Lilo Wagner, 2015. "Pass/Fail, A-F, or 0-100? - Optimal Grading of Eager Students," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1445, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1445
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    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.495800.de/dp1445.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pedro Bordalo & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2012. "Salience Theory of Choice Under Risk," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1243-1285.
    2. Betts, Julian R, 1998. "The Impact of Educational Standards on the Level and Distribution of Earnings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(1), pages 266-275, March.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal grading; effort incentives; salience theory; education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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