Is an Improving Grade Sequence Preferable to a Better Grade?

The relationship between the trend of a sequence of related outcomes and judged assessments of fairness of those outcomes was studied in the context of an educational framework. Specifically, a short course was modeled as a controlled experiment, in which participants completed several “assignments” and, a “final”, for which they received an overall “course grade”. After the course grade was received, participants judged the fairness of various aspects of the course – whether or not they felt the course grade was fair, the final test was fair, the process was fair, and whether or not the course grade reflected their actual ability. The main conclusions are that given two grade sequences with the same overall average, participants significantly prefer the sequence in which the trend increases (their grades improve) from beginning to end; furthermore, given a sequence in which the trend increases with a lower overall average grade versus a sequence in which the trend decreases with a higher overall average grade, participants still prefer the sequence in which the trend increases. However, this latter result is not significant when controlling for performance. In short, depending on performance, the process may matter more than the outcome, that is, an improving grade sequence may be preferable to a better grade.