Increasingly widespread high school grade inflation can cost students more than $200,000 in lost earning potential per teacher per year, finds a groundbreaking new study. Authored by Jeffrey T. Denning, Rachel Nesbit, Nolan Pope, and Merrill Warnick, this rigorous analysis of high school data from Los Angeles and Maryland reveals that widespread grade inflation isn’t harmless feel-good pedagogy—it’s actively sabotaging students’ futures.
Average high school GPAs have risen nearly half a letter grade over the past four decades, even as standardized test scores decline. The divergence screams inflation: teachers awarding higher grades for the same or lesser performance.
