Inflated grades lead to deflated pay

Inflating grades deflates students' future pay, concludes a new study, reports Jill Barshay on Hechinger's Proof Points. "Students who experienced more lenient grading were less likely to pass subsequent courses, posted lower test scores afterwards, were less likely to graduate from high school and enroll in college, and earned significantly less years later," according to Easy A’s, Less Pay: The Long-Term Effects of Grade Inflation.

Researchers looked at Los Angeles high school students -- most were Hispanic -- from 2004 to 2013. They also analyzed Maryland's more racially mixed students from 2013 to 2023.

In both cases, they found the same pattern, writes Barshay.  

"Students taught by lenient graders — defined as teachers who gave higher grades than expected based on standardized test scores and prior student performance — did worse later in high school," she writes. "In Maryland, where there was data through college and into the workplace, these students were also less likely to attend college or be employed, and earned less."

The study found a short-term benefit for high school students who received D's instead of the F's they'd earned. They were more likely to receive a high school diploma. But there was no long-term benefit in college completion or earnings. "The leniency helps them clear a hurdle, but it does not build the skills they need afterward," she writes.

Students whose teachers turn C's into B's and B's into A's fare see no benefit at all, researchers said.

Many teachers feel pressured to "comply with “equitable grading” policies that forbid zeros, allow unlimited retakes and eliminate penalties for late work," according to a 2025 survey, Barshay writes.

Lenient graders may be better at improving students' behavior, she reports. Their students cooperate more and are suspended less. "Stricter graders tend to be better at raising students’ test scores in math, reading and other academic subjects."

Cincinnati parents want to know how well their children are really doing. Under parental pressure, the school board voted to include students' reading and math achievement, expressed in terms of grade level, on report cards. If a fourth-grader gets an "A" in reading and the report card says "reading at second-grade level," the parent will have a clue that everything is not OK.

"Knowledge is power," writes Fordham's Jessica Poiner on RealClearEducation. "Empowered parents can meet with teachers, obtain out-of-school help, offer support at home, and explore other schooling options, all of which can turn the tide for a struggling student."

"Transparency could spark some tough questions for teachers and school administrators," Poiner writes. It could increase pressure to offer tutoring for students who've fallen behind.

Years ago, I talked to an elementary principal whose very low-income, all-minority school had adopted Success for All reading, which grouped students by reading level. There was one group for fourth- and fifth-graders reading at the first-grade level, he said.

The mother of one of the fifth-graders, a Mexican immigrant, asked why her son had received A's for years if he couldn't read. It was a good question, the prinicipal conceded. "He's a nice kid," he told me. "Teachers like him." But he couldn't read.