ACT® Research Report Finds Grade Inflation and GPAs on the Rise: Is This News?

ACT’s® May 2022 report, “Grade Inflation Continues to Grow in the Past Decade,” confirms that the average high school GPA significantly increased from 2010 to 2021, with the most dramatic increases occurring in the past 5 school years. Not only did ACT’s® research find high school grades and GPAs on the rise, but ACT® composite scores dropped from 21.0 to 20.3 during the same time period. These findings, according to ACT®, indicate that the current trend in grade inflation— allocated grades that do not match content mastery— is a serious problem.

These findings call into question what degree grades and GPAs should be relied upon to accurately measure a student’s academic achievement and proficiency. The ACT® report notes, “Research has also shown that grade inflation tends to vary by school affluence.” 

That makes sense. Think about it. Every state has its own set of standards. Every school follows its own curricula. Every teacher has their own subjective methods of assessing students and assigning grades. All of these factors combined amount to major differences in grades and GPAs earned from student to student, school to school. 

On top of the typical disparate differences between schools, tack on the massive disruptions and changes in the educational landscape brought on by the pandemic (school closures, remote learning, 2020’s “No Grade” spring). The pandemic saw many school districts drop their A-F letter grading system in favor of much more flexible (and indulgent!) policies (e.g., pass/fail grades, no grades lower than a C-, and no F grades permitted). These grading policy changes made the comparative gaps in academic achievement between students and schools quickly escalate to massive disparities. 

The ACT® report remarks, 

“Under these conditions, grades—and the students’ HSGPA based on those grades—are less reflective of differences in academic achievement across students and are more a function of school policies. 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.”

Good question.

Taken a step further, how are test-optional colleges and universities determining academic performance and content mastery if grades and GPAs cannot be relied upon? 

Well, as the ACT® report points out, admissions based primarily on grades and GPAs to showcase student academic performance negates “the best practices in educational testing outlined by the Standards [for Educational and Psychological Testing] (American Educational Research Association [AERA], American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education, 2014), which advocates for the use of multiple measures (e.g., essays, letters of recommendations, coursework taken, etc.) when evaluating applicants’ college readiness, cautioning against the overreliance on any single measure.” 

While test scores alone should not be relied upon for college admittance, there’s something to be said of the equity of standardized tests. 

ACT® notes, 

“The well-documented concerns about grade inflation across time and the nonachievement components in HSGPA result in an unstandardized and potentially problematic way to compare students across the country. A standardized comparison provides many benefits in contexts such as college admissions and scholarship applications. A standardized metric provides one way to fairly and quickly evaluate students’ mastery of core content and potential for success in college.”

Students who take the ACT® and SAT® are provided with the exact same conditions and parameters, respective to the tests. The purpose of these tests is to guarantee fairness. As we’ve covered before, these are “uniform examinations that are administered in a rote, procedural manner, and quantifiably scored. The entire standardized testing procedure is predetermined and calculated to ensure equality between all tests and test takers.”

For those of us in the test-prep business, we’ve heard this all before. And, we’re also accustomed to those who like to counter these facts with their own opinions. Many observations on the recent ACT® report make a point to play devil’s advocate, pointing out that ACT® as a business has a vested interest in pointing fingers to defend and justify the decline in test scores. This has been coined “ACT® propaganda.” But, for every devil’s advocate, there must be an angel’s advocate that draws attention to the fact that ACT’s® report is actually one of many congruous reports, amassing into a resounding cry for action.

For example, the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) High School Transcript Study (HSTS) revealed that between 2009 and 2019, the number of students participating in more rigorous coursework increased (from 60% in 2009 to 69% in 2019), as did their corresponding grades and GPAs (from 3.0 in 2009 to 3.11 in 2019). However, when students participated in the NAEP assessments, their math scores had actually dropped (by 3%) and science scores simply stayed the same. So, how can students be taking more advanced coursework, achieving higher grades, and yet know less? 

Data is awesome, and having actual research reports to back up these claims is great, but it’s also important to get a real feel for what’s going on from a first-person point of view. 

In his opinion piece, “Teacher: Am I guilty of grade inflation? I'll admit, my approach to grading has evolved,” high school teacher Tim Donahue shares his experience with grade inflation over his 25 years of teaching high school English. Donahue notes, 

“When half the grades average in the A range, teachers and students can avoid feedback. It sends the message that knowledge can be finished and left behind. Anyone loves to hear that their work is “brilliant,” “lyrical” and “amazing,” but compounded over time, this can distort a student’s estimation of their own talents and stifle their resilience to see that a grade can be a process and not just a stamp.”

He further explains that the overall conception of grades has “softened and evolved” to a “grading system that pays homage to convenience” rather than based on “earnest feedback.” 

The recent ACT® report simply provides data proving what we’ve already known to be true, and what other comparable reports have shown and will continue to demonstrate— grade inflation and unmerited GPAs are a toxic issue in the educational landscape. And, unless school districts and teachers are held to the same set of principles and standards, student transcripts will continue to be unreliable measures of academic performance and content mastery.

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