grade inflation
noun1
Education A gradual upward trend in grades awarded to students during the decades since the mid-20th century, reported in a number of countries and at a number of levels of schooling and sometimes offered as evidence of a decline in academic standards.
- Grade inflation refers to an increase in grade point average without a concomitant increase in achievement.1981, I. Bejar, E. Blew, “Grade Inflation and the Validity of the Scholastic Aptitude Test”, in American Educational Research Journal, volume 18, number 2, page 143: