Grade Inflation and how it hurts Connecticut students

By General Education Advice

Grade inflation is rampant.

Read the findings from the study.  What does that mean for your child?  From a pure educational perspective, they are getting a delusional understanding of their abilities and this does not play out well when they get to college.  Their skills in reading, writing, and math are not as strong as their “good grades” indicate.

Abigail, a parent of a high school sophomore, from Madison called recently and noted that while her son does very well in school, she did not find him to be a good writer or have good reading comprehension skills.  She was educated in England.  She wondered – politely – if our standards were more relaxed.  She was right.  And, this does not play out well in our increasing global workforce.

From a college counseling perspective, many of our Connecticut clients who have strong GPAs do not realize that their SATs will be the dominant way they are evaluated by college administrators.  “I have a 95 average so I think I have a good shot at Yale.”  Nope.  Unless, you have a 1450 minimum (or you have a hook), you have almost no chance at Yale.

From what I see from our Shoreline and Fairfield clientele, teachers give out an abundance of As and A- grades.  From what I hear from teachers throughout Connecticut who talk to me to off the record, dealing with grade grubbing parents and students is such a headache that teachers now routinely give As.  And, simply put, Bs are the new Cs.  If you think your child is doing well with a B average, you might be surprised that his class rank is in the bottom half.  (and yes, even if schools do not hand out class ranks, colleges find out).

So what does this mean, far and away the most objective numerical measurement for college admissions is the SAT (or ACT).