Grade Inflation

[Anonymous]

One reason that colleges are forced to put so much emphasis on standardized tests is that there is rampant grade inflation in certain school systems.

Not to pick on Churchill High School, but I found it shocking that 45% of the students had a weighted GPA ABOVE 4.0

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/churchillhs/counseling/Profile%20class.2014.pdf

Even unweighted, nearly 40% are above 3.5

Whitman's numbers are considerable lower: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/whitmanhs/about/wwhs%202013-14%20profile-official(2).pdf

But it seems that Churchill's standardized test scores are lower and both Whitman and Churchill have lower test scores than top privates.

[Anonymous]

Churchill is a high school of cheaters.

My son came home telling me about a girl who's parents allowed her to skip a period because she didn't feel prepared for the test. She left school for just ONE period. In AP Biology and AP World History, many students memorize the answers of online test banks they found that they know the teachers draw questions out of. The teachers have no clue, or if they do have a clue, don't do anything to stop it.

And, honestly, many of the top students cheat on the SATs too. Not really conventional cheating - but they do study their asses off and take thousands of dollars worth of test prep. These are not kids who do particularly badly on tests. These are kids who got 210+ plus on their PSAT that are inflating the scores. It's directly causing higher and higher SATs to be necessary for top school admissions, because more "mediocre" (not really mediocre, just not ivy caliber) kids are inflating their SAT scores through prep.

Tons of students are getting 2300+ and 4.0s that they do not deserve. Are these kids smart? Yes. Are these kids capable of actually earning 4.0s or such high scores on their own merits? Hell no. But, no one wants to be left behind in the college race so they cheat and cheat and cheat.

The saddest part is the few remaining honest students feel like they have to cheat to stay competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is a high school of cheaters.

My son came home telling me about a girl who's parents allowed her to skip a period because she didn't feel prepared for the test. She left school for just ONE period. In AP Biology and AP World History, many students memorize the answers of online test banks they found that they know the teachers draw questions out of. The teachers have no clue, or if they do have a clue, don't do anything to stop it.

And, honestly, many of the top students cheat on the SATs too. Not really conventional cheating - but they do study their asses off and take thousands of dollars worth of test prep. These are not kids who do particularly badly on tests. These are kids who got 210+ plus on their PSAT that are inflating the scores. It's directly causing higher and higher SATs to be necessary for top school admissions, because more "mediocre" (not really mediocre, just not ivy caliber) kids are inflating their SAT scores through prep.

Tons of students are getting 2300+ and 4.0s that they do not deserve. Are these kids smart? Yes. Are these kids capable of actually earning 4.0s or such high scores on their own merits? Hell no. But, no one wants to be left behind in the college race so they cheat and cheat and cheat.

The saddest part is the few remaining honest students feel like they have to cheat to stay competitive.

Is the cheating school wide or more prevalent among certain groups?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is a high school of cheaters.

My son came home telling me about a girl who's parents allowed her to skip a period because she didn't feel prepared for the test. She left school for just ONE period. In AP Biology and AP World History, many students memorize the answers of online test banks they found that they know the teachers draw questions out of. The teachers have no clue, or if they do have a clue, don't do anything to stop it.

And, honestly, many of the top students cheat on the SATs too. Not really conventional cheating - but they do study their asses off and take thousands of dollars worth of test prep. These are not kids who do particularly badly on tests. These are kids who got 210+ plus on their PSAT that are inflating the scores. It's directly causing higher and higher SATs to be necessary for top school admissions, because more "mediocre" (not really mediocre, just not ivy caliber) kids are inflating their SAT scores through prep.

Tons of students are getting 2300+ and 4.0s that they do not deserve. Are these kids smart? Yes. Are these kids capable of actually earning 4.0s or such high scores on their own merits? Hell no. But, no one wants to be left behind in the college race so they cheat and cheat and cheat.

The saddest part is the few remaining honest students feel like they have to cheat to stay competitive.

You are conflating prepping and cheating.
If a kid received a high SAT score - they deserve it, no matter if they studied with a CollegeBoard book or paid $$$$ to tutors.

[Anonymous]

Paying thousands of dollars for a private tutor to learn to game the test is completely cheating as far as I'm concerned. I don't care how widely accepted it is. It's blatantly unethical.

There's a difference between genuinely needing to learn the skills necessary to do well and cramming for hours on end to earn an artificially high score. It's not representative of the student's actual skills - as evidenced by the fact that the effect wears off in a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the cheating school wide or more prevalent among certain groups?

And as far as I can tell it's most prevalent among the students aiming for Ivies/Stanford/MIT but not limited to them. There are plenty of more average kids with corrupt moral codes who care more about the grade than how they get it. It's a part of the high school "culture", so to speak.

[Anonymous]

because of the asian invasion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:because of the asian invasion.

When did Asians invade our country? Maybe I missed something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:because of the asian invasion.

When did Asians invade our country? Maybe I missed something?

Been to TJ lately? Koreans all day long. Some straight from Seoul. How they get in, I have no idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:because of the asian invasion.

Churchill is just a little over 20% Asian, which seems consistent with the demographics of Potomac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is a high school of cheaters.

My son came home telling me about a girl who's parents allowed her to skip a period because she didn't feel prepared for the test. She left school for just ONE period. In AP Biology and AP World History, many students memorize the answers of online test banks they found that they know the teachers draw questions out of. The teachers have no clue, or if they do have a clue, don't do anything to stop it.

And, honestly, many of the top students cheat on the SATs too. Not really conventional cheating - but they do study their asses off and take thousands of dollars worth of test prep. These are not kids who do particularly badly on tests. These are kids who got 210+ plus on their PSAT that are inflating the scores. It's directly causing higher and higher SATs to be necessary for top school admissions, because more "mediocre" (not really mediocre, just not ivy caliber) kids are inflating their SAT scores through prep.

Tons of students are getting 2300+ and 4.0s that they do not deserve. Are these kids smart? Yes. Are these kids capable of actually earning 4.0s or such high scores on their own merits? Hell no. But, no one wants to be left behind in the college race so they cheat and cheat and cheat.

The saddest part is the few remaining honest students feel like they have to cheat to stay competitive.

Could you please provide the name of the AP Bio test bank? The other students in my class have been drubbing me on the multiple choice this year, and I now think I know why!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could you please provide the name of the AP Bio test bank? The other students in my class have been drubbing me on the multiple choice this year, and I now think I know why!

I'll ask my son if he can find out from his friends who are in AP Bio. He isn't taking it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is a high school of cheaters.

My son came home telling me about a girl who's parents allowed her to skip a period because she didn't feel prepared for the test. She left school for just ONE period. In AP Biology and AP World History, many students memorize the answers of online test banks they found that they know the teachers draw questions out of. The teachers have no clue, or if they do have a clue, don't do anything to stop it.

And, honestly, many of the top students cheat on the SATs too. Not really conventional cheating - but they do study their asses off and take thousands of dollars worth of test prep. These are not kids who do particularly badly on tests. These are kids who got 210+ plus on their PSAT that are inflating the scores. It's directly causing higher and higher SATs to be necessary for top school admissions, because more "mediocre" (not really mediocre, just not ivy caliber) kids are inflating their SAT scores through prep.

Tons of students are getting 2300+ and 4.0s that they do not deserve. Are these kids smart? Yes. Are these kids capable of actually earning 4.0s or such high scores on their own merits? Hell no. But, no one wants to be left behind in the college race so they cheat and cheat and cheat.

The saddest part is the few remaining honest students feel like they have to cheat to stay competitive.

Could you please provide the name of the AP Bio test bank? The other students in my class have been drubbing me on the multiple choice this year, and I now think I know why!

Wait, at least one poster here is a high schooler? That makes so much sense!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One reason that colleges are forced to put so much emphasis on standardized tests is that there is rampant grade inflation in certain school systems.

Not to pick on Churchill High School, but I found it shocking that 45% of the students had a weighted GPA ABOVE 4.0

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/churchillhs/counseling/Profile%20class.2014.pdf

Even unweighted, nearly 40% are above 3.5

Whitman's numbers are considerable lower: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/whitmanhs/about/wwhs%202013-14%20profile-official(2).pdf

But it seems that Churchill's standardized test scores are lower and both Whitman and Churchill have lower test scores than top privates.

Well yes. The top privates select students based partially on test scores. Whitman and Churchill don't have that "luxury," in fact each has some kids who *gasp* won't be going to college at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is a high school of cheaters.

My son came home telling me about a girl who's parents allowed her to skip a period because she didn't feel prepared for the test. She left school for just ONE period. In AP Biology and AP World History, many students memorize the answers of online test banks they found that they know the teachers draw questions out of. The teachers have no clue, or if they do have a clue, don't do anything to stop it.

And, honestly, many of the top students cheat on the SATs too. Not really conventional cheating - but they do study their asses off and take thousands of dollars worth of test prep. These are not kids who do particularly badly on tests. These are kids who got 210+ plus on their PSAT that are inflating the scores. It's directly causing higher and higher SATs to be necessary for top school admissions, because more "mediocre" (not really mediocre, just not ivy caliber) kids are inflating their SAT scores through prep.

Tons of students are getting 2300+ and 4.0s that they do not deserve. Are these kids smart? Yes. Are these kids capable of actually earning 4.0s or such high scores on their own merits? Hell no. But, no one wants to be left behind in the college race so they cheat and cheat and cheat.

The saddest part is the few remaining honest students feel like they have to cheat to stay competitive.

I'm sorry, but on some looney toones level did this poster indicate that studying extra hard for the SAT was CHEATING? My son did not do a prep class, but he sure would have if he needed it. There is nothing wrong with doing everything you can to better your chances of going to the school you want to go to. That's called working for something.