We investigate how improving the signal quality of grades could enhance the matching of students to selective opportunities that are awarded early in academic programs. To do so, we develop methods to measure the signal quality of grades and to estimate the impact of changes to university policies on the identification of exceptional students for these opportunities. We focus on law schools, a setting where students are awarded important academic and professional opportunities after just one year of a three-year program. Using transcript data from a top law school over a 40-year period, we document large gains in identifying exceptional students if changes were made to certain personnel, course, and grading policies. Our findings provide motivation and a blueprint for how universities could leverage their internal records to ensure that fewer exceptional students miss out on selective opportunities.

中文翻译：

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提高年级信号质量

我们研究了如何提高成绩信号质量来增强学生与学术课程早期授予的选择性机会的匹配度。为此，我们开发了方法来衡量成绩的信号质量，并估计大学政策变化对识别优秀学生获得这些机会的影响。我们专注于法学院，学生在完成三年课程一年后即可获得重要的学术和专业机会。我们利用一所顶尖法学院 40 年来的成绩单数据，记录了如果对某些人员、课程和评分政策进行改变，在识别优秀学生方面将取得的巨大进步。