What is "grade inflation"

n. (context education English) 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 is the tendency to award progressively higher academic grades for work that would have received lower grades in the past. Higher grades in themselves do not prove grade inflation; it is also necessary to demonstrate that the grades are not deserved.

Grade inflation is frequently discussed in relation to education in the United States, and to GCSEs and A levels in England and Wales. It is also an issue in Canada and many other nations, especially Australia and New Zealand.