grade inflation

grade inflation (uncountable)

1. (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.
   • 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:

     Grade inflation refers to an increase in grade point average without a concomitant increase in achievement.

• “grade inflation”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.