Overview:
Grade inflation creates a false sense of equity by passing students without the skills they need, ultimately limiting their future opportunities.
As a high school history teacher, I find joy in making lesson plans that allow students to view their world through different lenses and make connections between the past and present. When I watch students experience that “light bulb” moment of recognizing how those in power distort history to maintain power or find empowerment from culturally relevant narratives, I realize I’m doing my life’s work. These moments, however, don’t appear out of thin air, they are a direct result of the advocacy and resistance of those who came before me. Being that I teach at a Title 1, segregated school in Los Angeles, the Chicano movement and 1968 East LA Walkouts, among other resistance movements, installed the switch needed to flip on that light bulb. I stand on the shoulders of those movements, and it is my responsibility, along with others who work in education, to build off that past.
When I reflect on my time teaching at my current school, I discover that, while we honor those groups with cultural celebrations and diversity initiatives, true equity demands more. True equity requires that we provide students with the academic skills and knowledge needed to navigate the world outside our school. And while I could blame failures to meet those needs on factors largely beyond my immediate control — poverty, societal neglect, wealth inequality, systemic racism — that would be an exercise in futility for my current students. And when it comes to students’ lives, there is no time for futility. Instead, I focus on what all educators have immediate control over, which is what happens in their classrooms and at their schools.
In my school and classroom, the major barrier standing in the way of students fulfilling their potential is grade inflation. Grade inflation is when teachers provide students with higher grades than their work warrants. For example, if a student doesn’t turn in assignments on time, complete assignments, meet a “D” or better on rubrics, or attend class consistently, then that student shouldn’t earn a passing grade. However, because of grade inflation, a teacher still awards that student a passing grade. Or a teacher will award a student an “A” even though their work failed to meet the highest standard or allow students to turn in large amounts of late work before the grading period to boost their grade.
While the reasons for grade inflation remain open for debate — teachers feeling sympathetic, government accountability standards, counselors and administrators pressuring teachers, or parents empowered enough to influence the teacher — its existence is beyond doubt. Numerous studies, such as recent ones from the ACT and LA Times, proved that grade inflation is prevalent throughout the nation and city. Whether inflation is a result of sympathy for a student’s current situation, a matter of outside pressure or it being easier to raise grades than confront educational and societal problems, it offers little solace to the kids being left behind. And in segregated schools, like the one where I teach, the lack of grade accountability further erodes students’ chances of overcoming the inequalities those in non-segregated schools face.
As a 2022 report from the US Department of the Treasury and numerous reports from the US Government Accountability Office highlighted, my students and others like them are going to have a harder time than their white peers finding a high-paying job, opening a business, earning extra income to overcome problems in college or life and avoid being unhoused or incarcerated. Inflating a grade for students like mine represents another denied opportunity and perpetuates ongoing injustices. How are students supposed to improve their reading, writing and listening skills if they know it’s not relevant to passing a class? How are these students going to confront the challenges they face if they can’t read, write or listen effectively? How can they expect to be hired for a good job, maintain a job, operate a successful business, pass college classes and organize for change if they don’t possess sound academic skills? How can students understand their world and the system that often works against them if they can’t process information effectively to make informed decisions? Once out of high school, students without these skills become completely exposed to our societal ills, where services and support are scarce or non-existent.
Well-intentioned or not, grade inflation’s harmful impact is beyond doubt. The problems low-income students face—poverty, being unhoused, family problems, food insecurity, broken families, drug abuse—are real and are issues their wealthy counterparts often don’t experience. For teachers, addressing how to best help in such situations is extremely difficult. Do you hold these students accountable for their work, which potentially prevents them from graduating and may leave them further behind? Is showing up despite their adversity and trauma enough to receive a passing grade? There is no easy answer and accommodations are often needed. Nevertheless, simply passing students for being at school is not the solution. Schools can uphold rigor while also providing support such as tutoring, one-on-one assistance and smaller class sizes. When I hold students accountable for grades in my class, I question if my actions help or hurt students. But what I have found is that when I inflate grades, I’m disempowering rather than empowering, and that is the antithesis of what past social movements fought for and why I dedicated my life to teaching.
I am a retired educator. I can attest to the fact that grade inflation exist and just for the most part not a positive thing for students. The worst part of it is I believe, At the students know their work is not what it should be and when we tell them that it is, he gives him the wrong idea about who they are and who we think they are. It says we know you’re not capable, but that’s OK. No one expects you to be.