Milton Area High School administrators plan to combat increasing grade inflation by increasing the value of tests, which they say will provide a more accurate assessment of students’ knowledge.
Grade inflation is the practice of awarding students with high grades even for lower quality work. Students would then have a higher grade in class than what their grade would be if they were actually tested on their knowledge of the subject, according to a March article on the National Education Association website (nea.org).
According to High School Principal Mr. Michael Bergey, grade inflation occurs when teachers give more points for small, in-class work and give point earning opportunities to increase a student’s grade. This causes a gap between the student’s grade and the grade they would receive if they were assessed on their knowledge, he added.
he said.
He added that half the school’s student population have A averages. “You would think that at minimum, we should probably have like 70 percent of our kids that pass the Keystones,” said Mr. Bergey. “(On) our biology exam, historically, we are around 30 to 35 percent of kids who get proficient on that. Not advanced, proficient. That’s just passing.”
Teachers give students extra point earning opportunities because they don’t want to upset students or put their own jobs at risk, Mr. Bergey said. “There’s also an element of fear, like teachers think, ‘If I fail this kid and have too many failing, I’m going to be in the hot seat,’” he added.
Director of Secondary Education Mr. Andrew Rantz said he believes that the majority of people will understand the concept behind the initiative. He added that support from everyone involved will come with clear communication and being transparent.
Mr. Bergey explained that this has been a rising societal issue where educators look at students’ work that they put into class and assignments and account for that in students’ grades.
“I don’t want teachers to say, ‘Here is what you know. Because you are a good kid and because you are nice, I’m going to take that and show that your grade is higher than what you know,’” Mr. Bergey said.
“This is in no way a teacher problem. I could argue this is a societal problem right now,” Mr. Bergey said. “We can’t conflate the product with effort. Work ethic is one of the most important things right now in our society. People don’t want to work,” he added.
“I would like to see a system in place where we are doing a really good job teaching, checking for understanding through that process to make sure we know where our kids are and then when we give them an assessment, that’s what it is. You had an opportunity to show me what you know,” Mr. Bergey added.
Mr. Bergey explained that he would like to see a system where students are taught the material, tested periodically to check for understanding and then assessed on their knowledge of the subject.
“(We should) make sure that our grades reflect what our students know. That’s what I would love to be able to do because that would be solid data,” he added.
“Increasing our grading standards and rigor will, ideally, better prepare students for the rigor of post-secondary requirements and admissions procedures, which are quickly moving back to utilizing the SAT and ACT for benchmarks for enrollment,” Mr. Rantz said.
According to Mr. Bergey, he expects to face backlash and face problems with the support of his team of teachers and staff.
“Kids will be upset; parents will see the first report card and they might think, ‘time out, what am I missing?’” Mr. Bergey added.
“I do not believe that there is going to be a mass wave of students earning lower grades due to this proposed plan. If students come to school every day, work hard and complete their assignments the right way, study and do their best on their summative assessments, the rest will take care of itself,” Mr. Rantz said.
Mr. Rantz added that he is not concerned with Milton students competing with other schools for scholarships and colleges. “Many of our own scholarships, which are worth thousands and thousands of dollars, are all in-house scholarships, so students will be competing under the same procedures and grading processes,” he added.
“I need people that work with me, to get where I’m at. That’s my job, to have a solid team of people that are all working together,” Mr. Bergey explained.
“There’s going to be growing pains. There’s going to be frustrations. There’s going to be headaches. There’s always somebody that doesn’t like it. My job is to get the amazing teachers that we have in this building… to a point where they’re not seeing my opinion, but convince them to see what is right,” he added.
