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(Iowa City, IA) -- Iowa City-based ACT has released study showing widespread grade inflation in schools across the country. ACT CEO Janet Godwin says grade inflation has been a trend for the past ten years. Their study found the greatest grade inflation during the past two years, of the pandemic.
“Grade inflation is real, it is widespread, and it weakens the value of student transcripts as a single measure of what students know and are able do,” said ACT CEO Janet Godwin. “The study shows that grade inflation is a persistent, systemic problem, common across classrooms, districts, and states.”
She says grade inflation, or the assigning of grades that do not align with content mastery as measured by the ACT calls into question whether, and to what degree, grades alone should be used to measure achievement or predict future grades. Godwin says their research shows grades can be a misleading indicator of how well students are performing academically and their college readiness.
Godwin says shifts in high school course grading policy during the COVID-19 pandemic may account for the most recent growth in grade inflation. In response to the coronavirus outbreak, some school districts moved away from the traditional A-F letter grading system at the beginning of the pandemic to a more lenient policy dictated by districts, schools, or classroom teachers. As a result of the dramatic changes to the way grades were assigned, it is fair to ask whether GPAs assigned during the pandemic are comparable to GPAs assigned prior to it.
“Grade inflation makes college admissions more challenging and confusing for students, who need accurate, meaningful grades to tell the whole story of their academic success,” Godwin said. “Grade inflation also limits students’ ability to meaningfully gauge their academic readiness for college work and select a college where they are likely to thrive.”
Many college allowed college entrance exam scores to be optional for admittance during the pandemic. Some have reverted to their pre-pandemic policy, other colleges have not.
Key findings:
- This analysis suggested grade inflation was more of an issue for students with moderate and lower ACT Composite scores than for students with higher ACT Composite scores.
- Students with low and moderate family incomes had higher rates of grade inflation compared to students with high family incomes.
- Black students experienced a greater degree of grade inflation than white students.
- Schools with a higher proportion of students who receive Free or Reduced-Price Lunch services had higher grade inflation than schools with lower proportions of students receiving these services.
- At a school level, schools with fewer students of color experienced grade inflation at a higher rate across time than schools with more students of color.