Note that there was a recent study that found more grade inflation in affluent schools than in less affluent schools during the 2005-2016 period in North Carolina. This was done by comparing course grades with end-of-class state standardized test scores.
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A side note- it’s a pet peeve of mine that people assume if a 4.0 student doesn’t have top standardized test scores that the gpa is inflated rather than earned, or only in the easiest of classes. That is absolutely not always the case.
From personal experience, my daughters were homeschooled so that added another layer of disbelief. Fact remains that I didn’t grade them- 3 separate high schools did that (there are multiple ways to homeschool, not all traditional), as well as six separate community colleges/four year colleges during high school, the 8 years of public school before that, and now (for one of my girls) two years of a top-tier LAC. Still a 4.0 and she’s never had anything less. She never cracked the code to leap to the top of the ACT heap- and luckily that didn’t matter for her goals.
Sorry for the wander, back to your regularly scheduled conversation.
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Generally the people who post on CC are people who value their education highly. Getting a 4.0 UW GPA is not easy, no matter how much grade inflation there is. There are so many 4.0 UW GPAs because there are millions of high school seniors out there. High school GPA is a much better predictor of college outcome than the SAT or the ACT.
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I think otherwise to high ACT scores. High ACT scores mean students prep more, spent more time for the Standardized Test.
You don’t need ACT math 34 to get A in Physics and Chemistry nor ACT English 34 to get A in Economics and History.
On the other hand, I see some youtubers getting 1500+ SAT or 33+ ACT, they struggle with some APs and not happy about not getting the college credits but have to re-take.
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They certainly don’t make it easy for AOs! And now with test-opt, it’s even harder. In addition to rampant grade inflation others have brought up, the variation just within a single letter grade can be significant. We call D21 the queen of 89.45, but that’s an A, same as my friend’s son who gets 99! I really feel that there are real differences in their understanding of the material. I am not complaining of course, just pointing out another way things are not fair.
@bestmom888 and there are variations there too- my kiddos have never been anywhere where an 89.45 would be an A, or even an A-. Between my girls we’ve seen everything from a 90 to a 94 count as the lowest you can get for an A (4.0).
And at my D’s school as 89.45 would have been a B.
That’s why colleges need the school report with grading scale ; )
I agree AP scores are good indicators.
and once again, our low SES district has figured out how to get around this. Basically 90 % of the AP classes are dual enrollment with local state university; kids get the college credit and don’t care about the AP scores. The school really really pushes dual enrollment. The more I look at the school and the district, the less pleased I am.
I think AP scores are good indicators as well, it definitely helps put classroom rigor into perspective. I got a B+ in AP stat and a 4 on the exam. The grade wasn’t perfect and neither was the test score, I feel I deserved both.
Also at my school a 89.45 would be a B, which on a 4.0 scale would be a 3.48ish
90s are 3.5s and 95s are 4.0s, it was terrifying to go on YouTube or even on this forum to see so many students with 4.0s and so many of them be rejected from colleges (even knowing the process is wholistic and that the people who reveal these stats are typically the ones with better ones to share)
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In theory, college grading standards should be higher than high school grading standards. But are they at this local state university? Do students who take both the college grade and the AP exam tend to do similarly (e.g. A → 5, B → 4, C → 3, etc.)?
I’m glad my kids’ school doesn’t report + and - grades on the transcript or GPA, and they don’t have a Valedictorian. Typically under 5% of the 1000+ seniors get perfect 4.0 GPA at graduation. It is a very solid accomplishment and there’s no need to add stress by pushing the kids to fight for A+ vs A vs A-.
I hope colleges look at the school profile and gauge my kid based on the opportunities and performance vs. his peers.
Made me laugh, Jazama – way back when, I got a C+ in AP Calc and got a 5 on the test. 
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Maybe they have the same type of 4.0 UW my queen of 89.5 has! Someone said that 50% of all students have 4.0, so I guess it’s not that impressive.
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I have no doubt that they are well prepared for college, since that is indeed the entire purpose of the high school. However, so are the kids attending wealthy public schools, but the grade inflation in these schools has been documented (see the link that @ucbalumnus posted).
Grade inflation doesn’t just mean students getting Cs and Ds instead of Fs, it also means students getting As instead of Bs. In fact, the latter is often more common than the former, especially in the high schools which pride themselves in the achievements of their students.
Even IMSA, which is likely one of the high schools which should be the least susceptible to pressure (public school, so not dependent on parents’ tuition money, and not dependent on parents from any specific school district for funding), has grade inflation.
Of course, one of the biggest reasons for grade inflation is school reputation, admissions, and, as @bgbg4us pointed out - merit scholarships. While AOs try to look at the high school, let’s face it, there are over 23,800 public high schools and over 2,800 private high schools, and there is a limit on the time and effort an AO will spend on this.
@bgbg4us - again, referring to the study to which @ucbalumnus linked, grade inflation in low SES public schools exists, but to a lesser degree than in high schools serving higher SES communities.
Wow at your school an 89.45 is an A? First, do you not even have A-, but second why do they round that up even? At our high school that is a B+. The lowest A- at our school is an 89.5. An 89.45 does not get rounded to an 89.5, it’s an 89.45 period. That would be considered grade inflation.
I do wonder how colleges look at schools on a +- system different though than one that isn’t because you are right that technically a 90 and 100 are no different. I know Michigan calculates a new GPA taking our + and - and unweighting everything and how they remove fine arts and other classes and assign points based on rigor of class etc.
Never really thought about it before you made that comment though. Would love to hear insight into anyone former AOs out there that have experience with these different systems.
A B at our school is a 3.3 on a 4.0 scale. It’s a killer for a GpA but also probably why we only have a few kids with UW 4.0 and probably none of the highest Weighted GPA kids with 4.0 unweighted gpas because our curriculum is so rigorous and teachers aren’t all about giving As. In some of the lower or standard classes they are much easier.
Also our high school classes that offer dual enrollment are actually more rigorous than the dual enrollment. For instance our MVC course which the kids take at the high school and get hs credit from a local university. Our teacher found the materials from the college to be severely lacking so while she is required to have the students take that midterm she also then gives her own because the college midterm is a complete joke and too easy.
Also every kid in the MVC class got a 5 on AP BC but they did not all get As. The quality of our staff is incredible but an A is absolutely earned and not given and the rigor is there.
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No we don’t have - and +. But idk if it’s “grade inflation” because unlike so many schools with multiple valedictorians, our school has always had one clear winner. It’s a big public with 2500+ students, 85% go on to 4-yr college with 20+ kids each yr accepted to Ivy+.
In terms of rounding up, that’s up to the discretion of each teacher. D21 is VERY good at talking her way to higher grades. She notoriously convinced her AP chem teacher, known for being the toughest teacher in our school, that her final grade of 88.42 is an A. In the same year, the same teacher gave her friend a C for his 79.85. Definitely not fair. Which is why I don’t buy that the transcript is any more “fair” than the ACT/SAT. I’d even argue that a smart kid can more easily “game” her transcript than her ACT.
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That happens at the college level too. Last year one of D’s professors sent an email to the entire class after finals saying not to contact them if you were on the cusp of a letter grade. They would be making the decision to bump up the grade based on class participation, assignments turned in, attendance at office hours, review sessions, etc…
IMO students earning an A with a 99 or a 89.5 are going to have very different LORs and guidance reports. Remember adcoms see the whole application.
Also, at D’s HS, the official transcript had the % along with the letter grade, even though the report card to families just had the letter grade.
Hmmm I think the quality of LORs has more to do with a student’s attitude towards learning and her relationship with the teacher than with the grade she has in the class. So many top scorers have standard positive LORs (“great student, you are lucky to have her”) that do nothing for them in T20s.
“% along with letter grade” – do you mean class rank? Because that’s also going away. D21’s school ranks, but starting this yr, parents can petition to exclude ranking from their kid’s transcript – offering yet another way to game the transcript. Also, class rank at our school is based on final letter grades, so D21’s 88.42 is worth the same as her classmate’s 99 because they are both A. D21 is ranked top 5% of her graduating class of 600. Like I said, it’s easier to game the transcript than the ACT.
Hate the grading scale at my kids schools. A 92 is. B here! So basically if a kid gets all “92”s they only have a 3.0 where ar the high school down the street it would be a 4.0. Super frustrating