Take the SAT Again In June: It will help battle grade inflation

By General Education Advice

Since I work with students from schools ranging from New Haven to Middletown to Stonington, I have a reasonable comparative understanding of the strength of Connecticut schools in the Middlesex, New Haven, and New London County areas.

If your child attends one of the stronger schools in the area – Guilford, Daniel Hand in Madison, Old Saybrook, Old Lyme, East Lyme, among others that come to mind – I have some bad news.  I also have some good news, which won’t initially appear like good news, at least to most students who are not looking forward to the SATs and ACTs.

I regret to report that I meet with an abundance of students who have an average above 90, on the 1-100 scale, or if letter grades are given, somewhere in the A- range or if on a 4.0 school, somewhere above 3.5.  Why is this bad news? Those who get As at The Williams School, for example, are really earning old school As. It is not fair, but colleges will also see As from a plethora of students at Grade Inflation High. That diminishes the real achievement of students earning As at top high schools in Connecticut.

The good news: in most cases, students who get the “real As” do very well on comparative tests. Hard to believe – I know – but the SATs and ACTs end up being more fair than grades in such cases.