Grade Inflation

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

Do you think "Grade Inflation" is the new party line for testocrats?

Besides the Jay Matthews column in the Washington Post that angered Susan 
Ohanian, here's a Detroit News article quoting a Manhattan Institute study 
on grade inflation and suggesting that test scores are more reliable 
indicators of student performance than are grades.

"Grade Inflation Cheats Students As Employers Get Wise to Scam
High schoolers graduate without skills, and business looks beyond college 
grades to assess job applicants
By The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/2003/editorial/0311/12/a12-322528.htm

Grade inflation -- long an inside joke in Michigan schools and elsewhere -- 
has serious economic consequences. Students who slide through high school 
are finding out they can't cut college, much less get that high-paying job 
they want, says new research.

Colleges, meanwhile, are spending millions of dollars to teach students 
basic skills they should have learned in high school -- dunning taxpayers 
twice for the same education.

And now the crunch: Employers are getting fed up with bloated and 
meaningless grade point averages. Many are now emphasizing other indicators 
to assess job applicants.

All of which is a heads-up for educators.

Padding grades or pushing students through school to make them feel good 
about themselves is backfiring.

Eventually, students who enjoyed grade inflation learn the truth about 
their academic skills and feel cheated. That's because they have been. They 
got a grade they didn't deserve.

A grade is essentially a school's warranty to a student that he or she 
knows lessons at a certain level. In today's lawsuit-happy society, it 
wouldn't be surprising if a student sued a high school or college for 
providing false feedback in report cards. Accountability suits have been 
filed on shakier grounds than fake grades.

Only 32 percent of students leave public high schools qualified to attend a 
four-year college, says a study by the Manhattan Institute for Policy 
Research sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Even students with good grades arrive unprepared because -- despite high 
marks -- they don't know the material, say other reports.

Unfortunately, grade inflation rolls right through many colleges, too. 
Harvard University recently reformed its grading system after criticism 
that too many A's were handed out. Nearly 90 percent of all students 
graduated with honors.

In Metro Detroit, high school grades over 10 years increased dramatically 
compared with scores on standardized tests. As teachers hand out easy 
grades, the value of a high grade point average declines.

To make matters worse, many students get easy grades in easy courses -- 
studies that don't emphasize rigorous mathematics, science and writing.

In Georgia, 40 percent of the high school students who earn the state's 
Hope Scholarship lose it after a year in college because they can't keep up 
their grades.

The Manhattan Institute concluded that the big losers in grade inflation 
are minorities. "By far the most important reason black and Hispanic 
students are underrepresented in college is the failure of the K-12 
education system to prepare them for college, rather than insufficient 
financial aid or inadequate affirmative action policies," researchers said.

Frustrated employers are wise to the grade inflation ruse, and more are now 
looking at test scores -- such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) -- 
to determine a job applicant's true potential. By examining SATs, employers 
can make informed decisions amid the overflow "A" students.

Employer rejection of grade inflation raises the question: What's the point 
of cheap grades? There is none.

Nor has there ever been much value in giving credit where it is not due. 
The system should die a quick and quiet death.

George Sheridan