A 4.0 used to be holy ground for high schoolers. It was rare to come by a student with that perfect GPA. But today, 25 percent of Redwood’s senior class has higher than a 4.0 GPA.
Much of the increase has to do with the fact that a 4.0 is no longer the GPA ceiling. Considering that only the top 10 percent of the Class of 2010 had a 4.05 or above, GPAs over 4.0 have recently become much more common.
Grade point averages of Redwood’s top 5 percent have soared in the last five years, growing from 4.18 in 2009 to 4.33 for this year’s graduating class – an increase of .15 points.
Whether this is due to grading inflation, an increase in the size of our student body, an increase in college motivated students, or a combination of all three, Redwood has seen a spike in the GPAs across almost all percentiles.
“I don’t think it’s a trend that people are smarter now,” said 12-year Redwood counselor Tami Wall. “I think it’s the amount of people taking rigorous coursework and grade inflation combined. Here we’re saying to balance and do what you’re interested in, but yet the system and extrinsic pressures are saying the reverse.”
What has risen significantly is the number of AP tests administered each year, rising from 681 in 2008 to 1175 in 2013, meaning that the number AP tests that students are taking has almost doubled in the past five years.
The number of AP classes taken by the student body does correlate with higher GPAs, but that by itself cannot completely explain the increase in grade point averages.
AP classes are supposed to be harder than regular classes, which is why they award an extra grade point. According to the GPA scale’s logic, a student who would earn an A in a regular class, would earn a B in an AP class assuming no increase in effort or time spent.
“Over the years we’ve had more AP or honors offerings, which allow for the potential of a higher GPA,” said Assistant Principal LaSandra White. “There is that motivation of wanting to do well for college admissions.”
The large increase in students taking at least one AP class has occurred without a large rise in the number of new AP/Honors classes offered over the last five years. AP French was eliminated after 2009, and while AP Spanish Literature was only taught in 2013. Honors classes in Visual Arts and Spanish 7-8 were also added in 2010.According to Wall, a significant change came from opening up AP European History to sophomores, an option that was first available to the Class of 2012, yet it didn’t seem to cause an off-trend spike in that year’s GPA.
Steve Hettleman, an AP English Language and Composition teacher, says the rise in the number of students taking AP courses, especially the one he teaches, stems from numerous sources.
“Some kids really want to get better at their writing and they want the challenge.
Some kids really see it as way of improving their college applications. Some kids are kind of suggested that way from counselors or parents,” Hettleman said. “It’s hard to say any one reason, there are probably a dozen different reasons.”
Although teachers and administration rarely address the direct issue of potential inflation according to White, some teachers have made efforts to keep their grading consistent overtime.
Paul Ippolito, an AP Economics teacher, said he tries to tie his grades to AP scores.
“I have always been very practical that if 35 percent of my kids are getting 5 on the AP exam, then about 35 percent should get A’s,” said Ippolito. “Personally I would have a problem giving C’s to kids who consistently get 2’s.”
On the other hand, Hettleman doesn’t use AP scores to influence grades.
“I don’t regulate at all. I score kids according to a rubric,” Hettleman said.
Ippolito also stressed the lack of information about grade consistency throughout the school.
“Some teachers I talk to and we compare grades, some teachers I don’t,” said Ippolito. “Not every teacher seems to always want to compare grades, and it is not something we do as a department. Even when I was a student teacher here, no one ever told me how to grade, or how many A’s to give. I was on my own from the beginning.”
The jump in GPAs is not Redwood-specific. High schools across America have seen their grading adjust to the competitive nature of college admissions, according to Wall.
“It’s a common trend in our country, this is not just Redwood,” Wall said. “The trend of APs, 5.0 scales, college admissions, and grade inflation is nationwide.”
Another explanation for rising GPAs is that teachers are simply grading easier.
Wall points out that the pressure for teachers to give better grades has increased, whether or not this has affect their grading process. She said she sees the letter grade cut-offs as the most likely place that a teacher will round up a grade.
“It really is about giving somebody the A- versus the B+ or the B- versus the C+ when it’s about the competitive nature of college admissions,” Wall said. “Pluses and minuses don’t count on a transcript, so it’s about that letter grade.”
Ippolito said he hears talk about grade inflation from his friends who are college professors.
“I know a college professor who runs an English department at a university and he had to pull some younger professors in because they were giving 80 percent A’s and he was like,’ what is going on?’ No one is going to complain if you give a lot of A’s, so the pressure is on giving higher grades because otherwise professors get hassled more,” Ippolito said.
In some ways Redwood must keep up with GPA inflation in order for students to stay competitive in college admissions.
“If we don’t have grade inflation but every other high school has grade inflation, then to some degree we are putting you at a disadvantage when you apply for college,” Ippolito said. “We are forced to play the game a little bit.”
There have also been significant grade boosts for those at the median. Redwood’s 50th percentile has seen its GPA sky-rocket from 3.22 to 3.57, a growth of .35 grade points in six years. Much of that growth comes from the last three years.
“There’s the extrinsic pressure of parents, there’s the extrinsic pressure of the system of college admissions in our country,” said Wall. “GPA is the first criterion, for the most part, in looking at a college applicant.”
The class of 2014 is an anomaly in the trends.
At every percentile, the Class of 2014 has had a .1 increase in GPA from the last year.
Interestingly, the rise in GPAs has not been mirrored by a rise in SAT scores or AP test pass rates.
SAT scores for the 75, 50, and 25 percentile from the last five years show no upward trends, while AP pass rates have consistently been between 85-90 percent for the past six years.
GPA is also expected to drop after the elimination of honors courses in Geometry and Chemistry. The discontinuation of Honors Geometry will be especially detrimental because now a majority of freshman will not be able to earn over a 4.0.
