Grade Inflation Is Making Learning Loss Worse
Policies designed to ease grading standards obscure how far behind US students really are.
Let’s be honest with them.
Photographer: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images North America
Recent test results confirm a dispiriting reality: America’s students continue to lag far behind their peers around the world, and millions are running out of time to catch up. Yet many families remain unaware of the true deficits their children face — in no small part because teachers are often giving students higher grades than they actually deserve.
The grading systems used in K-12 schools vary widely, which makes it difficult to measure the problem precisely. But there’s evidence that the padding of classroom grades has become routine. Over the past decade, average scores on the ACT college-entrance exam declined in English, math, social studies and science, yet test takers’ self-reported grade-point averages in all four subjects went up. In 2010, 43% of test takers reported earning A’s in math, while 41% received B’s; by 2022, 54% received A’s and only 35% got B’s. The number with C’s fell to 10% from 15%.