Explain grade inflation to me

[Anonymous]

I keep hearing about grade inflation and I'm trying to understand it. I'm not sure how MCPS does it, but in FCPS, they instituted a policy during the pandemic whereby you could not earn below a 50, but a 50 is still an F. FCPS has always had a policy whereby if you earned below and 80 on a test, you could retake it -- but the most you could get was an 80 on it, even if you aced the retake. An 80 is a B- and a 79 is a C+. My DD had an A in her AP Bio class, but she got a 50% on her last exam, which dropped her grade to a B+. So how I "grade inflation" leading to 4.5 GPAs? Some on DCUM have claimed that the AP exams and SATs are now rigged with grade inflation -- how do you know that? Some on DCUM claim to be professors and noted that kids are dumber than ever -- are there any data to prove this? And then DCUM will talk about grade inflation in college and how that is leading to unprepared professionals. Where are the data? Anecdotally, I think kids these days are way more intelligent than I ever was -- my kids work much harder for their grades, and they are better critical thinkers. The young people I work with are super-talented.

[Anonymous]

Your dd’s b+ in Ap bio equates to a 4.3 on a weighted basis.

[Anonymous]

I have never posted saying that there is grade inflation, because I have not seen it with my DCs. I think their teachers graded appropriately to a little tough. I’m not sure if it’s true, but from what I have gathered, at least some of the grade inflation is alleged to stem from teachers at some schools grading up because of fear of pushback from parents upset about their kids getting non-top grades and/or the school administration not wanting the school to look like its students aren’t high achievers and/or having to deal with difficult parents.

[Anonymous]

If more than half the kids in a class get an A, there is grade inflation. And yes, I understand that there is grade inflation everywhere. Everyone gets a trophy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If more than half the kids in a class get an A, there is grade inflation. And yes, I understand that there is grade inflation everywhere. Everyone gets a trophy.

But if the grades are inflated for everyone, there are still students that stand out because of superior work. If everyone get an a then the top students will get more than an A.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If more than half the kids in a class get an A, there is grade inflation. And yes, I understand that there is grade inflation everywhere. Everyone gets a trophy.

But one could infer from such a cynical remark that you don’t believe those As are earned.

The purpose of primary and secondary education is to teach mastery of material. It’s not to generate a bell curve where top grades are rationed. Thinking about top grades as a commodity in this way is bizarre and antiquated. It’s literally Ok if half the class gets and A, even if they get to have retakes the like — because it demonstrates they learned the material. Which is the purpose of education. It’s not a race to learn the material “first” and it’s not like someone had to be “best” at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If more than half the kids in a class get an A, there is grade inflation. And yes, I understand that there is grade inflation everywhere. Everyone gets a trophy.

But if the grades are inflated for everyone, there are still students that stand out because of superior work. If everyone get an a then the top students will get more than an A.

Nope that’s the problem with grade inflation, it masks the truly superior students.

[Anonymous]

Here is what we saw in HS. Example below for illustrative purposes for 1 course and 2 students.

Student 1 who is very bright and excels in the course:
MP 1 99% = A
MP 2 98.2% = A

Semester 1 grade which appears on the transcript = A

MP3 98.9% = A
MP 4 99.1% = A

Semester 2 grade which appears on the transcript = A

Now, let's review a 2nd student, who is in the same exact class, yet this person is not exceling in the course and so their parents intervene with help, paid tutoring, and extra work...to get their college bound student into the B+ and even A- range.

MP 1 84.5% = B
MP 2 90.1% = A

Take the higher of the two marking period grades and award an A for Semester 1 on the transcript

MP 3 91.2% = A
MP 4 83% = B

Take the higher of the two marking period grades and award an A for Semester 2.

So, we have 2 students applying to the same college. They look very similar, with Semester grades of As for the course.
Yet, in reality, one is a very high earning A student and the second is a solid B student, with a sprinkle of A-.

And, if these is an Honors Course, it's scored the same as an AP grade! Think about the difference between the AP student who got all A's and student#2. Now multiply this calc. over years and years of courses. Your strong, even low, B student just has to break the 90% threshold for 2 marking periods a year to capture the A.

In my opinion, this is grade inflation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If more than half the kids in a class get an A, there is grade inflation. And yes, I understand that there is grade inflation everywhere. Everyone gets a trophy.

But if the grades are inflated for everyone, there are still students that stand out because of superior work. If everyone get an a then the top students will get more than an A.

Nope that’s the problem with grade inflation, it masks the truly superior students.

Really, it does not.

[Anonymous]

Don’t you need a 93 (or a 92.5 or a higher) for an A? I though 89.5-92.49 was an A-?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If more than half the kids in a class get an A, there is grade inflation. And yes, I understand that there is grade inflation everywhere. Everyone gets a trophy.

But if the grades are inflated for everyone, there are still students that stand out because of superior work. If everyone get an a then the top students will get more than an A.

Nope that’s the problem with grade inflation, it masks the truly superior students.

Really, it does not.

Absolutely it does. That’s why having a prefect gpa from some of these schools doesn’t result in the admissions one would expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If more than half the kids in a class get an A, there is grade inflation. And yes, I understand that there is grade inflation everywhere. Everyone gets a trophy.

But one could infer from such a cynical remark that you don’t believe those As are earned.

The purpose of primary and secondary education is to teach mastery of material. It’s not to generate a bell curve where top grades are rationed. Thinking about top grades as a commodity in this way is bizarre and antiquated. It’s literally Ok if half the class gets and A, even if they get to have retakes the like — because it demonstrates they learned the material. Which is the purpose of education. It’s not a race to learn the material “first” and it’s not like someone had to be “best” at it.

Couldn’t agree more.

Also, people have been complaining about grade inflation for more than 50 years: https://twitter.com/james_s_murphy/status/1216363300897857537?s=61&t=XT7rHh4nlH4BWfv_zO9BWA

[Anonymous]

Example: A course in School A has students write about how they feel about a particular topic for their final project worth 20% of their grade. School B in same system similar socioeconomic neighborhood has students take something similar to a final test

Example 2: Same schools involved similar course, say like a 10th grade history honors course. School A gives mostly multiple choice questions on tests. School B has mostly essay questions for tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is what we saw in HS. Example below for illustrative purposes for 1 course and 2 students.

Student 1 who is very bright and excels in the course:
MP 1 99% = A
MP 2 98.2% = A

Semester 1 grade which appears on the transcript = A

MP3 98.9% = A
MP 4 99.1% = A

Semester 2 grade which appears on the transcript = A

Now, let's review a 2nd student, who is in the same exact class, yet this person is not exceling in the course and so their parents intervene with help, paid tutoring, and extra work...to get their college bound student into the B+ and even A- range.

MP 1 84.5% = B
MP 2 90.1% = A

Take the higher of the two marking period grades and award an A for Semester 1 on the transcript

MP 3 91.2% = A
MP 4 83% = B

Take the higher of the two marking period grades and award an A for Semester 2.

So, we have 2 students applying to the same college. They look very similar, with Semester grades of As for the course.
Yet, in reality, one is a very high earning A student and the second is a solid B student, with a sprinkle of A-.

And, if these is an Honors Course, it's scored the same as an AP grade! Think about the difference between the AP student who got all A's and student#2. Now multiply this calc. over years and years of courses. Your strong, even low, B student just has to break the 90% threshold for 2 marking periods a year to capture the A.

In my opinion, this is grade inflation.

Why would a school take the higher grade as the overall grade? Which school system does that? (Our FCPS school does not do that. Student 2 would have a B in the class.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your dd’s b+ in Ap bio equates to a 4.3 on a weighted basis.

. But the colleges can clearly see she got a B, regardless of the weight.