Source: Fortune
Summary
A new National Bureau of Economic Research study finds that grade inflation in high schools can lead to negative consequences, including lower future earnings, increased absences, and decreased academic performance. The study analyzed administrative high school records from Los Angeles and Maryland and linked them to long-term postsecondary and earnings data. The researchers found that for each individual student, grade inflation can lead to a decrease in yearly earnings of about $150 for every grade bumped up to a B+ from a B. The study’s findings arrive as President Donald Trump pushes a crackdown on grade inflation on college campuses.
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The announcement sounds familiar.
The researchers found that grade inflation can shave about $213,000 off the group’s future earnings, or roughly $150 a year for each letter grade quietly nudged up. Teachers generously tossing out easy As also made it easier for students to skate by. The research found that higher grade inflation is linked to increased absences and suspensions. Nolan Pope, one of the study’s researchers, said that grade inflation remains so pervasive because all parties benefit from it, offering a perverse incentive that perpetuates the seemingly benign practice semester after semester. The study’s findings suggest that grade inflation can have long-term consequences for students, including lower future earnings and decreased academic performance.
It’s a familiar pattern: when everyone gets a trophy, the trophy loses its value.
Author: Evan Null
