Grade Inflation

Grade Inflation Misleads Parents and Students

Grade inflation is rampant in schools across Corpus Christi as well as the nation.  Your child's report card grade may not be a realistic measurement of your child's mastery of that period's math lessons.  Furthermore, as your child moves through high school, the math grade may not be indiciative of your child's readiness for college.

Why are grades inflated? The first reason is self esteem.  A true measurement of your child's mastery of math may ruin their self esteem and then their attitude towards learning math.  A second reason is necessity- high school is a dress rehersal for college and other life paths after high school so an accurate grade isn't really necessary.  Why be unnecessarily accurate in measuring your child's mastery of math when it doesn't really matter till they chose a degree program with a specific grade in mind?  A third reason is that a higher grade eliminates the teacher having to defend the assignment of a low grade to upset and irate parents. 

Has your child ever failed or otherwise receive an undesired low score on a math test? Did the teacher permit the student to correct missed questions in return for partial credit?  Unfortunately, that first low score is an accurate measurement of yor child's mastery of the subject matter.  The inflated grade on the report card measures your child's ability to fail a test then seek the missing points by reworking the missed questions with an open book or by asking the "smart kid" in the class.  This lack of mastery accumultes and results in a high school junior who is unprepared for the SAT or ACT as well as being unprepared for college level work.

Mathnasium can help by administering an assessment that measures your child's true master of previous grade levels.  Visit Mathnasium or call (361) 414-9014 to schedule an assessment that will measure your child's readiness for that next grade level and their mastery of the most recently completed grade level.

Check out //www.gradeinflation.com/

All of these concerns can be found in a four part article in Forbe's Magazine:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomlindsay/2019/10/30/grade-inflation-in-us-higher-educationwe-have-a-problem-part-1-of-4/#7c20e8285a1e