How much of high school grade inflation is really weighting inflation? I.e. where a 3.0 unweighted GPA gets weighted to a 4.5 weighted GPA.
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There are substantial incentives to inflate, and almost none to not inflate. Predictably, there is great inflation.
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Nobody is saying that Anxiety is not a medical condition or that it affects some students greater than others in significant ways. However, if the SAT cheating scandals showed us anything it is that people will go to great lengths to gain an advantage, especially to T20 schools. Getting a Dr to write a note for anxiety seems to be a low bar. The anxiety diagnosis was used primarily in California to obtain medical marijuana by thousands of people. There were numerous articles on that subject. I have a friend who lives there who joked about how easy it was. As I said before, the allowable time for the test should be expanded for all. No need to flag anything. That’s seems to be the most fair and fairness should be the objective. What’s wrong with that?
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One consequence of unlimited and/or expanded time for the tests is that average test scores will increase. Particularly the ACT which is much more a test of time than the SAT…meaning, the ACT is an easier test (easier math problems, lower reading index).
If you have unlimited time, you should score a perfect score on the reading and the science sections. All the answers are in the passages. You just need to answer all the questions in time. I agree in giving extended time to everyone. If you have the money and search hard enough for the right doctor, you can and will get the extended time accommodations.
Probably a fair amount. At our HS, the very top kids have weighted GPAs in the 4.7 range. A 4.0 weighted GPA would only be in the top 35% of the class (depending on the year). Of course, if you aren’t taking honors or AP courses the best you can possibly do is a 4.0 (all As in “regular” college level classes).
Sometimes, it really depends on the school, the teachers ( union too), the parents, and the school committee. So it isn’t just a single answer. Some may decide there are too many kids failing to graduate and adjust accordingly. Others may compare their public school to another close by with similar demographics. And so it goes…
I fell down the educational rabbit hole some years back and while do not recall anything specific to direct grade inflation directives, literally nothing would surprise me after my journey through Wonderland.
I would argue there could potentially be indirect inflation factors at play. For example, did identify some significant systemic issues around differences in access to academic opportunities and expectations for academic growth for qualified students. In short, students with same end of grade test scores were given different future expectations and access to advanced tracks based on demographic factors and it was, at least in part, intentional.
SO many kids that don’t need extra time get in anyway.
Not picking on you, @1NJParent, by quoting you specifically, since several people have made similar claims on this thread and elsewhere, but: This is a remarkably evidence-free assertion.
It seems to be almost a dogmatically accepted point here on CC that HS grade inflation is and will continue to be a given, and that HS teachers are in some way in a race to produce the highest HS GPAs possible.
However, this is, as I said above, a remarkably evidence-free claim. If it is true, after all, I would expect that we’d have arrived at the theoretical endpoint of grade inflation by now anyway (that is, an unweighted 4.0 for everyone), so why haven’t we? Also, in all seriousness, what would individual teachers get out of inflating grades? And so on.
Basically, a request: Please provide evidence when you raise the specter of HS grade inflation (and keep in mind that anecdotes are not data).
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I wish more parents would pay attention to grading inconsistencies at our school: teachers dumping old assignments into the grading portal an hour before the quarter closes, minor quizzes that are weighted way too heavily because the teacher didn’t do the math when allocating points, rubrics where the word descriptions don’t correlate properly to the numeric grade.
All these things can tank GPAs.
Our teachers are great educators but, in general, I think they haven’t benefited from consistency of leadership and standardization and enforcement of solid departmental grading policies and rubrics.
It feels so foreign to hear some of you talk about private schools where the parents are voicing strong opinions about grades in relation to college admissions. Grades and T20 college admissions aren’t a big topic here. Our kid’s GC had never even heard the term Single Choice Early Action until we came along.
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Some students do get extended time for anxiety, but most are not able to. From my experience in this area, that is not even close to “the easiest way” to obtain extended time if you are trying to take advantage. Believe the question that you were discussing was whether it would be a HIPAA violation if it was indicated on a score report. IMO - the answer is yes.
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I try really hard to politely educate fellow co-workers about this. The biggest fault where I am seems to be 5 point quick quizzes. They don’t think about it “5 points isn’t much!” That’s true, but if the student misses one it turns into an 80% factored in and in our school 80% = C+. One would have to be practically perfect all the time to get an A at the end. A = 95+ (92 → 94% = A-)
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Yes!! I think the points allocated for each assessment, combined with the percentages allocated for each category (homework, assessments, etc) really stump a good number of teachers. I’ve seen some unfortunate grade “catastrophes” result.
All teachers need to understand and embrace math nowadays. Too many teachers just pop the grade into the grading software without thinking about the math behind it. It’s a big issue at our school, and I often feel like I’m screaming into the void.
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Our school has always deflated grades because they want AOs to trust that they mean something and that they aren’t overselling kids who can’t cut it. Unfortunately, they decided to adjust downwards again the fall before COVID (A is now 95 and above), which turned out to be a disaster.
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Test-optional has already changed academic scholarships. My daughter doesn’t have a lot of EC’s but she did get a 34 on her ACT. With her 3.98 GPA in the past she would have earned a top academic scholarship at her favorite college choice (30k a year) but now they’ve reduced that significantly.Her school is also known for not doing grade inflation. Now she’ll have to compete with kids from other schools who have inflated GPA’s. I don’t believe that colleges are that in tune with every school to know when a gpa is inflated either.
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Scroll down for some non anecdotal evidence from 2018 provided by @roycroftmom
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Yes, what @roycroftmom posted exists. But I guess I should have been a bit more specific—that’s a general trend that has been going on for years (decades, really), but the sort of grade inflation that was under discussion was a sort of “arms race” between schools, and I’m just not seeing evidence for that.
(Also, it’s worth asking whether increasing GPAs might simply be a reflection of higher levels of subject-matter mastery over time, but that’s a whole different conversation.)
@michaeluwill, as a former AO did you feel that high test scores particularly helped students from poorer schools/lower SES – helping AO’s identify the diamonds in the rough? I just have a gut feeling that test blind and to some extent TO (poor/disadvantaged kids just decide to skip the test) hurts that group the most. I am thinking of my college roommate who was from a farm family and went to a typical rural school where multiple grades were put together in 1 classroom. He always has credited his high SAT score as the reason why he got into a HYP.
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