“Grading to the curve” is bullshit. Why do we do it? Because, like “standardization”, it holds out the promise of making educational measurement scientific. But when you scratch under the surface, you see that this promise is empty. We don’t need the curve, and we don’t need to make grading scientific.

Kulick, George and Wright, Ronald (2008). "The Impact of Grading on the Curve: A Simulation Analysis," International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Vol. 2: No. 2, Article 5.

Bresee, Clyde W. (1976). On "Grading on the Curve", The Clearing House , Nov., 1976, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Nov., 1976), pp. 108-110.

Grant, Adam. “Why we should stop grading students on a curve”, New York Times, 11/9/16.

Kahneman, D., O. Sibony and C.R. Sunstein (2021). Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment. New York, Little Brown Spark.

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