Grade inflation

I have a family member who teaches math at a state university. He will have students (and sometimes parents) complain "You gave me a C (or whatever other grade they are angry about)". He always responds "I didn't give you a C, your earned it".
yes, when i went to college in the 80s, i had plenty of professors who said one first day that most students in the class would get a "C". If felt like they took pride in that. If a professor, would say that to me to me today, i would walk out of his class and call him in ass, but that's is me. Yes, plenty of people earn a C in the class but there are plenty of people who earn a C in the class because that is how the professor sets it up.

I agree some people are bad test takers resulting in lower SAT scores even know they are brilliant and understand the material. However, that also means, they probably wont test well in college either. I also believe that SAT scores do get better because of all the prepping. That just means the tests will have to be adjusted for the prepping. Obviously, there is no one answer. If anything , due to racial concerns, SAT/ACT will probably disappear in the future. Honestly after being heavily involved with my two kids trying to get into college, to me most of what the schools look at are BS anyway.
 
Was talking about college admissions to a couple students today. One said some schools are continuing this year the practice of not requiring recommendation letters. Reason being the students haven’t had time to establish relationships with their teachers. I just finished a letter for a student who was in my class in a different subject two years ago plus she’s in my class this year. I see her every day plus she sits in front of my desk. I know her well.

But, if SAT/ACT is dropped along with the recommendation letters, how does the admissions folks pick who they want considering everyone will have high and inflated grades?
 
I agree that grade inflation is happening. But especially at lower levels where kids can’t read or write but are passed through the system.

But we shouldn’t assume all students with great grades were because of grade inflation. I know my son earned his grades.I earned less than what most school districts spend per year per kid and they turn out kids who can't read.

In my son’s class, there was a really smart student that finished like 17 in the class. Scored like a 1550 on SAT. The converse is the high SAT score could show he didn’t put effort into his classes.
It could also be he had other things going on that had an impact on school. Schools doesn't stop for gamil
*family drama or problems.
(Sorry I was waiting at the pharmacy for my flu shot. )
 
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I too teach high school. Devil Doc and I share in that affliction, I mean blessing. I am also writing a letter of recommendation for a student I have known for four years, although she elected to work from home last school year (our district was the first in our state to reopen. We did so in August of 2020 and have remained open).

She emailed me, we met, she told me what the letter was for, and I asked her to answer a few questions. I will write the letter and complete the evaluation this week. She is doing the work, she does earn her grades, and yes, she has a GPA over 4.0, but that is because she excelled in honors and dual credit courses that without question, are more difficult and challenging than traditional courses. Her work ethic is superior to all but one of her peers academically.

Our DS never received a grade below an A on his report card in high school. He also didn't sleep much, sought help, worked with his teachers when extra instruction was offered and really wanted to attend USNA knowing he had to work to even have a snowball's chance in hell at a nomination and or appointment. I'm not objective here, but I know he earned every grade he received. And we never told him that would get him ready completely for the rigor of SA academics- it would be harder 100 fold.

Personally, my district has been pretty supportive of the staff. I have never been asked to 'offer extra credit' or 'help Johnny become eligible for Friday night'. I would have no qualms about discussing Johnny's wasted time during lecture staring at his girlfriend, or his late submissions of assigned work. OR the fact that Johnny (or Susie) doesn't consider 'study' to be a verb that actually requires action on his part. I have failed students, even when it was a senior that meant he/she was now credit deficient and would be facing a very delayed graduation if any. There is no integrity in giving a grade to a student who didn't earn it.

I am consistently disappointed with a local middle school that passes all students, regardless of aptitude or mastery of even one subject. They are only making those students be set up for failure moving forward.

As mentioned, parents are nightmares. I mean horror show Freddy Krueger level nasty. Devil Doc isn't wrong when he says it's wise to avoid them. I can see admin bowing to some of them, it isn't worth the law suit and police reports, but it's wrong.

I do recall that USNA asked our counselor for stats on our % of students going on to 4 year schools. The average SAT/ACT score for the prior graduation class, total enrollment, grading system and highest course offered. They must take all of that into account in some wizard designed algorithm.
 
Then again you have to fit the quota for admission. Don't apply for early and no matter what your qualifications are you don't get in.
 
I have no issue with grade inflation because the other side of the coin is the SAT/ACT. So if you are really a 3.4 student with a 4.0 on your report card, the SAT/ACT should show what you are really capable of
Unless you live in CA where public universities have gone test blind. GI is about to go off the charts here.
 
The school matters too. I attended both a suburban school outside of a major city and an urban school in a major city and there was no comparison. We did nothing in class at the urban school with the exception of 10th grade biology.
Many students couldn't even read sentences only containing pronouns and words with short vowels.
 
Well, no.

Thank you for sharing the link.
The point differential is really nominal over the years and overall, multiple minorities improved.
The study shows data related to ethnicities but doesn’t disseminate rural versus urban or private, public or charter.
There are so many factors related to future academic success that it is really hard to quantify.
Our DS took his ACT with a young man a year ahead of him. I knew him and offered a ride. He had a crap GPA and didn’t care about high school. He got a perfect score on the ACT and was picked up for early nuclear for Navy. Top of his class In South Carolina. He said nuc school was boring.
Aptitude versus attitude.
The Valedictorian that year dropped out after wasting mom and dad’s money at our flagship state U.
Good topic for respectful debate.
 
School is 1/3, student is 1/3, parents are 1/3. If the tripod is not balanced, the stool won't be stable.

Lots of parents don't hold up their end, which causes the student to struggle also.

It's not the fault of the schools if the parents are abdicating their responsibilities.
 
School is 1/3, student is 1/3, parents are 1/3. If the tripod is not balanced, the stool won't be stable.

Lots of parents don't hold up their end, which causes the student to struggle also.

It's not the fault of the schools if the parents are abdicating their responsibilities.


Agree 100%.

Discounting the parental end is a mistake. Sometimes around here you will hear "kids should have to do everything themselves, my kid is so independent she/he had no help from parents, parental help makes for kids that can't stand on their own......etc."

That is really nonsensical when you think about it.
 
School is 1/3, student is 1/3, parents are 1/3. If the tripod is not balanced, the stool won't be stable.

Lots of parents don't hold up their end, which causes the student to struggle also.

It's not the fault of the schools if the parents are abdicating their responsibilities.
I couldn’t agree more, this is why I am always amazed at those that do it mostly on their own. Those lacking family support have overcome the odds for sure.
 
Well, no.


Thanks for the well-deserved call out. I knew that, too, as I had just read recently how they normalize scores for that purpose ( to try to keep percentage stats roughly static over time for comparison sake). That June of 18(?) test drama highlighted that, when that one test was supposedly too easy and many kids' raw scores were bunched at the top, the "800 range" scores were lowered relative to what it would have been the previous or next test.

When posting, I was thinking more from the 2nd part where top colleges have been showing higher and higher SATs of incoming freshman over time, which is making them harder to differentiate. Here is a better written example of what I was trying to post:

I have tried finding a few answers online to dive into this more, but haven't had luck. How many tests taken per student now vs 10 or 20 years ago? And what is the average score (or superscore) per student based on how many times they take it.
 
DD test 1: 1430
DD test 2: 1550

No prep courses, no tutors, no game theory.

I think that the test is supposed to assess what you have learned, not how you have gamed the system.

Of course, I am old school.
 
DD test 1: 1430
DD test 2: 1550

No prep courses, no tutors, no game theory.

I think that the test is supposed to assess what you have learned, not how you have gamed the system.

Of course, I am old school.
An "unaided 1550" -- that's impressive (and I imagine very rare)!
 
DD test 1: 1430
DD test 2: 1550

No prep courses, no tutors, no game theory.

I think that the test is supposed to assess what you have learned, not how you have gamed the system.

Of course, I am old school.
My son took the SAT and ACT once. He did take a prep course for the SAT.

I am not sure studying and being as prepared as you can be is gaming the system.

Was he gaming the system by practicing his ball handling and shooting skills since he was 8 years old to be a starting captain on the basketball team?
 
Theoretically, taking the test more than once can be considered gaming the system. It is well-known that scores generally improve with subsequent tests, because the test-taker gets more familiar with how to take the test more efficiently. But many people simply can't afford to take the test more than once.
 
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