Part 6: Grade Inflation

The U.S Department of Education reported that the average GPA in 1990 for high school graduates was a 2.68. In 2009, it reported that the number had risen to a 3.0.

This could be the result of education reform bills and a general increase in the quality of education across the United States. It could also be the result of grade inflation.

Grade inflation can be defined as the idea that GPA and other academic scores have increased artificially, rather than legitimately. It has been studied by university professors, and teachers interviewed said it is noticeable at the high school level.

Some teachers condemn this trend as a fault in American education that contributes to student anxiety.

“Grade Inflation: a Crisis in College Education,” a 2003 book by Texas A&M statistics professor Valen Johnson, describes how officials at a different school, Dartmouth College, noticed that its average GPA increased from 3.06 in 1968 to 3.23 in 1994.

The school did not celebrate. Instead, it enacted a policy to fix what is believed to be grade inflation.

Dartmouth began compiling median scores for each course, with the intention of alerting teachers to upward trends that could signal grade inflation. The effect was that grade inflation at Dartmouth shrank significantly.

Some teachers at Cambridge said grade inflation is observable here, too.

“I see teachers giving the easy A more and more,” said English teacher Suzanne Wren.

Wren said she believes grade inflation has become more widespread as the burden of grades has shifted away from students and onto teachers.

Her reasoning is that legislation like 2001’s No Child Left Behind Act results in many teachers passing students who ought to fail. The legislation includes measures that can punish teachers who fail students, said Wren.

This, she explained, is the root of grade inflation.

“I see it more in younger students,” Wren explained. She said students get to her class and say “they’ve never had anything below an A” in an English class.

She said she sees students, especially in her honors classes, who are “crazed” after receiving grades lower than As. In her view, grade inflation is among the factors that contribute to students’ academic anxiety.  

STEM Director Ellen Kerr, who teaches AP Chemistry, said that when prerequisite classes to AP courses are taught less rigorously, it can affect the ability of students to meet the rigor of AP courses.

Students interviewed said they were not knowledgeable on the subject of grade inflation.

“I know about it. I’m not confident enough to talk about it,” said senior Payton Faw.

Counseling department head Samiah Garcia has her own theory on what drives grade inflation at the high school level. It begins with students’ obsession with GPA ranks.

“Grades are driven by ranks. Grades get inflated by the extra seven points,” said Garcia.

Garcia explained that this makes students more inclined to take rigorous courses, which ultimately waters down the curriculum. Garcia explained that more students are taking difficult courses, such as honors or AP. When some of these students aren’t prepared, teachers sometimes compensate by inflating grades.

The school, as of the 2017-2018 academic year, will cease to use ranks according to Garcia.

Garcia also explained how the recession of the late 2000s has contributed to grade inflation. She said the recession discouraged many families from sending their children to prestigious, and expensive, universities, even though they qualified for admission to these schools.

Instead, these students have stayed in state, where they can obtain the HOPE scholarship, making it more competitive.

This trend has continued to today, she explained.

“A long time ago, if you wanted to go to college, you went,” said Wren.

The spike in admissions qualifications, particularly in the case of GPA, has led to pressure on educators to buff grades, according to Garcia. In other words, the GPA has risen only partially because of improved learning among students.

The effects of potentially inflated GPAs, Garcia said, may present themselves in the form of poorer curriculum and an increase in student anxiety.

“I think there’s a lot of pressure on students to achieve,” said Kerr. “Not all students need to be in college courses when they’re in high school.”