(Inside Higher Ed.) by Scott Jaschik.
Numerous studies have documented grade inflation in colleges. A study being released today shows that grades are going up in high schools — in ways that may raise issues for college admissions systems that rely on high school grade point averages. The study also shows that many schools — especially those educating wealthier students — are no longer calculating or releasing class ranks, potentially making it more difficult to compare students in an era of grade inflation.
The study finds that the gains in high school GPA raise questions about the ability of colleges to rely on the statistics in college admissions. Further, the study finds that grade inflation in high schools has been most pronounced at high schools with students who are wealthier than average — and where most students are white.
The study, released today, will be a chapter in Measuring Success: Testing, Grades and the Future of College Admissions, to be published next year by Johns Hopkins University Press. The two authors of the study are Michael Hurwitz, senior director at the College Board, and Jason Lee, a doctoral student at the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia.
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