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In Defense Of Mandatory Curves, Joshua M. Silverstein

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

This article sets forth the first comprehensive defense of mandatory curves. It begins with a case study of one law school. That institution lacked formal grade normalization policies during the period of the case study. As a result, the school suffered from dramatic grade disparities. This article contains a list and statistical analysis of the most significant disparities. The statistical analysis supports the conclusion that the grade disparities were caused by differences in teacher grading philosophy, and not by student merit or any other factor.

Next, this article presents several arguments in favor of mandatory curves. The most crucial is …