The fact that students are earning higher grades than ever without any appreciable increase in other assessments of academic ability should be well-known by now. Less understood are the root causes of this increasing phenomenon. Amy and Mike invited researchers Maia Goodman Young and Dan Goldhaber to dig into the data on how grading policies influence grade inflation.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. What is the purpose of grading?

2. How did state policy around grading in Washington change during the pandemic?

3. What does the research show about changes in grades throughout the pandemic?

4. What is the current connection between grades and test scores?

5. How does weaker rigor in grading influence student interest in academic support?

6. Are there differences in grading in different subjects or socioeconomic status?

7. What other grading policies might impact grade inflation?

8. What can we make of the weaker connection between grades and test scores? Is it bad or good?

MEET OUR GUESTS

Dr. Maia Goodman Young is a researcher at the Center for Education Data and Research at the University of Washington and an instructor in the UW's secondary teacher education program where she teaches courses in English Language Arts methods and assessment. She is also a National Board Certified Teacher who taught for nine years in California and Washington. Maia's experience as a classroom teacher informs her research, as she worked to better understand questions of grading policies and practices, teacher preparation, and the teacher labor market.

Maia can be reached at [email protected].

Dr. Dan Goldhaber is the Director of the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER, caldercenter.org) at the American Institutes for Research and the Director of the Center for Education Data & Research (CEDR, cedr.us(link is external)) at the University of Washington. Both CALDER and CEDR are focused on using state administrative data to do research that informs decisions about policy and practice.

Dan’s work focuses on issues of educational productivity and reform at the K-12 level, the broad array of human capital policies that influence the composition, distribution, and quality of teachers in the workforce, and connections between students' K-12 experiences and
postsecondary outcomes. Topics of published work in this area include studies of the stability of value-added measures of teachers, the effects of teacher qualifications and quality on student achievement, and the impact of teacher pay structure and licensure on the teacher labor market.

Dan’s research has been regularly published in leading peer-reviewed economic and education journals such as: American Economic Review, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Policy and Management, Economics of Education Review, Education Finance and Policy, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. The findings from these articles have been covered in more widely accessible media outlets such as National Public Radio, the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and Education Week. Dan previously served as president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy (2006-2017), an elected member of the Alexandria City School Board from 1997-2002, and as co-editor of Education Finance and Policy.

Dan can be reached at [email protected]. 

LINKS

Every teacher grades differently, which isn’t fair

Are SAT & ACT Scores More Predictive Than GPA?

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management: Vol 43, No 4

The Unintended Consequences of Academic Leniency

Grade inflation: Why it matters and how to stop it

Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms

RELATED EPISODES

THE REALITY OF GRADE INFLATION

WHY GRADE INFLATION IS HARMFUL

THE PROBLEM WITH GRADES

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our past episodes on the show page and keep up with our future ones by subscribing to our email newsletter.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.