Years ago, a City High teacher felt pressured by students, parents and administrators to curve subjective tests–these are tests that couldn’t be auto-graded–more harshly. In response, their grading policy changed to reflect the increasing demands of students who wanted higher grades for the same quality of work. This is an example of grade inflation, a phenomenon where average letter grades go up without an increase in student understanding.
According to the ACT, grade inflation is when the letters grades given do not match with students’ knowledge and mastery of content. Mastery is how well students learned the information they were tested on and how well they can continue to use it. So if students get an A but cannot truly apply the information, that is grade inflation. Evidence of whether or not students have mastered content usually comes from standardized test scores like the ACT or ISASPS.
From 2010 to 2022, the average high school GPA rose in all subjects, but the growth is most pronounced in math, according to the ACT. In 2010, it was 3.02, and in 2022, it increased to 3.32. As well as average GPA, the average percentage of As has increased as the number of B’s and C’s has decreased.
Though grades have increased, ACT scores from 2010 to 2022 have remained mostly the same, with a 0.6 decrease from 21.3 to 20.7. The biggest deficit was in math, with 1.2 points lost. The increase in average GPA paired with the steadiness of ACT scores shows that although letter grades have increased, student proficiency of national standards has not.
High school standardized test scores in math have also decreased, according to the Nation’s Report Card. From 2013 to 2019, the percentage of Grade 12 students below the basic level of achievement in math went from 35 to 40. The percentage of students below basic achievement for reading across the same time frame also went up from 25 to 30.
College admissions
As the average high school GPA has increased, it’s also meant there has been an increase in GPA among undergraduate applications.
“We have certainly seen an increase in [average] GPA,” Kirk Kluver, the director of admissions at the University of Iowa, said. “In 2016, the average high school GPA of our entering first year students at the University of Iowa was 3.64, and it [has] increased every year since then. The average incoming high school GPA was 3.83 this last fall.”
Iowa, UNI, and Iowa State are all public universities in Iowa, which means they have to follow the Regent Admissions Index (RAI) when admitting Iowa high school students. The RAI is a score calculated based on GPA, the types of classes a student takes, and ACT results. When a student meets a certain threshold with the RAI, they have to be accepted to the three public universities in Iowa. However, if students do not submit an ACT score, they cannot be automatically admitted.
“We’re also seeing [that] a little less than half of our students are applying without a test score [now]. In those cases, we can’t calculate a regent admission index school [so] we’re then looking at that student holistically,” Kluver said. “We’re really looking at grades, GPA, [and] courses a student has taken [in those cases]. It has made things a little bit more competitive as average GPAs have increased.”
GPA increases have also affected scholarships. Many are GPA based, so when many students have similarly high GPAs, colleges have to change the way scholarships are given out.
“It has become a little trickier [to award] merit scholarships as average GPAs have really increased significantly,” Kluver said. “I think we’re pretty upfront [by] telling students that while we do have some scholarships for students that are applying without a test score, our highest scholarships [go to] students that have a good college curriculum, have done well in those classes, and also have a test score that’s usually above our averages.”
Crumley also mentioned how as GPAs rise, they continue to reevaluate the GPA threshold for scholarships and whether or not to add test scores to eligibility requirements. On the other hand, the lowest GPA a student gets in high school while still being successful at UNI has also risen.
“We’re going to continue to study that trend, and as long as we’re seeing good success rates, we’re a little less concerned. For example, generally, we know that students with a 3.0 or higher at UNI do pretty well, and they graduate at high rates,” Crumley said. “Let’s say that all of a sudden we see that anybody below a 3.2 isn’t graduating at a certain rate, right? Well, maybe we need another measure. Maybe we need to add the test scores back to help us better, assist students when they come to the school.”
Teachers
During the COVID-19 pandemic, several grading policies were changed at City High. There was a two year period right after COVID where the base grade for any assignment, regardless of whether a student submitted anything or not, was 50%. New retake and late work policies were also introduced during COVID.
“The more you can retake, the more chances you get for the A, so obviously it’s going to affect [grades] this way. Both [retake and missing work policies] have increased the amount of A’s,” French teacher Tony Balcaen said. “So obviously that’s kind of skewing the [grades] a little bit in one direction.”
Though Balcaen acknowledges that changing grading policies has led to grade inflation, he still feels that his grading reflects student learning. However, over time, his personal standards have become more lenient.
“Earlier in my career, I was probably a lot stricter, for sure, because I had those ideals of what it should be for an A, etc,” Balcaen said. “I think recently, it has changed. It has increased, especially A’s and B’s. And I think there’s a bit of a pressure for that from the community and from the students themselves.”
In AP classes, grades are easier to scale consistently. At the end of each year, AP teachers can compare the letter grades of their students to AP test scores and see if they line up.
“Students that get an A in my class, I’d like to see them getting fours and fives in the AP test. If they’re getting a B, it’s more of a three or four kind of range. If it’s a C, it’s more of a like two or three range,” AP World teacher Jason Schumann said. “I reflect back, and if I’m seeing student scores not reflective of what their grades were throughout the course of the year, I go back and think about how I revise my policies.”
Students
Some students feel there is a pressure on themselves and teachers for higher letter grades so they can get into a more competitive college, but they end up leaving behind understanding.
“You have this 4.0, 5.0 GPA that you pretty much need to get into any kind of college that’s fairly prestigious,” Mira Cunning ‘26 said. “So taking this idea of understanding and turning it into a competitive idea that predicts your future has really affected the way that I think we think about grades, and also the way that people grade things.”
Across 18 top colleges, the average unweighted GPA for the admitted class of 2029 was 3.91, according to Crimson Education. So, mostly A’s along with rigorous coursework is a baseline for competitive colleges, though that isn’t always true. However, students have noticed this leads to less focus on learning.
“I’m definitely worried about which direction the curriculum is going in, though, because with more focusing on grades, it’s going to be more focused on memorization,” Benji Kurth ‘26 said. “At this point, I would much rather get a lower grade and understand the actual course, than get a higher grade, but don’t remember any of it. I feel like most people are gonna want the higher grade, and I think that’s a bad idea.”
On the other hand, in AP classes, teachers can compare grades to how students do on the AP test in order to accurately develop grades. Cunning found that this year, when she took more APs, her grades have lined up more with understanding
“I think it’s just like the difference between the way that teachers grade things and the way that I need to understand things,” Cunning said. “For APs, you have this test at the end of the year, so you’re graded on how well you’re gonna potentially do on that test, rather than how well teachers think your understanding is.”
Students have also found retakes can contribute to increased understanding because they give students an opportunity to learn from their mistakes.
“The teacher looks at it and goes, ‘this is wrong,’” Adrianna Coiner ‘27 said. “And then you can fix those things, instead of getting a couple things wrong the first time and probably getting an A, but then you’re like, oh, I have no idea why I got that wrong.”
Grades are going up without any significant evidence of students learning more than they used to. These increases lead to other measures being required for colleges and teachers to understand students’ mastery of content.
“There’s no way to have any equal way to measure student success when grades are so different everywhere you go,” Success Center teacher Ann Schaefer said.
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An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the SAT is graded on a curve. It uses a system of equating.
