COVER STORY: ARE SCHOOLS INFLATING GRADES? Marks from teachers, test scores vary widely

Some metro Atlanta high schools routinely award stellar grades to students who can’t pass standardized tests in the subject, leaving them potentially unprepared for college, a state study has found.

The results could mean teachers are either handing out good marks too easily or not teaching the state curriculum well, experts say.

The study released last week found the End of Course Tests were generally much harder for high school students than classroom work. The gap was most startling for the economics test, which covers basic theory and personal finance. While nearly 36 percent of students failed the test, only about 6 percent failed the class.

Public high schoolers must take the End of Course Tests in eight key subjects, including literature, biology and math. The tests aim to track students’ knowledge of state curriculum, as well as teachers’ effectiveness. State law mandates them. The study used 2007 data, the most recent available.

Because both the tests and classroom work are based on state standards, they should be roughly in sync.

“We don’t expect the End of Course grade and test to match exactly,” said Kathleen Mathers, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, which issued the grading study. But, she said, “if they’re far apart from one another, that’s generally a sign that they should probably be examined.”

Statewide, the percentage of students who failed most of the tests was two to three times greater than the percentage who ended up failing the class.

But researchers found metro districts varied widely, with the Atlanta and Clayton County districts ranking among the easiest graders, and Cobb and Gwinnett ranking among the toughest. And grading habits differed tremendously from school to school, according to additional study data released to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week.

At South Atlanta High, for instance, about 26 percent of students brought home failing grades in geometry. But when the state exam tested their knowledge in the subject, the results offered a sharp contrast. About 85 percent failed.

Meanwhile, in Cobb County, students faced a different dilemma. For example, about 78 percent of Lassiter High students who earned a “C” in geometry “exceeded standards” on the related End of Course Test —- meaning they scored at the highest of three possible levels. Students can also meet standards or fail.

Grades below a “B” can threaten students’ eligibility for the HOPE scholarship.

The study left teachers, administrators, students and parents talking about whether classroom grades fairly and accurately capture what students know.

In blog posts, some teachers complained that administrators and parents exert pressure to raise bad grades. A few blamed the HOPE for feeding the urge to give students marks they didn’t earn because educators don’t want to create a barrier to college.

Seventh-grade math teacher Alex Gambill said schools are reluctant to send students home with a grade lower than a 60 percent. That’s technically failing for his class, he said, but it’s easier to bump up into passing territory than a lower, but potentially more accurate, percentage. Gambill said students should receive the grade they earn.

“If a student makes a 30, it should be a 30 in the grade book,” the Paulding County teacher said.

Tim Callahan, a spokesman for the advocacy group Professional Association of Georgia Educators, said teachers are more often attacked for giving low grades than high.

“No one likes to be charged with grade inflation,” he said.

Because the state test makes up 15 percent of students’ classroom grades, the gap between scores and teacher-given grades is even larger than the study portrays.

Through a spokesman, state School Superintendent Kathy Cox declined to comment on the study, saying she had not had time to review the report closely.

Chris Clark, the Georgia College & State University economics professor who did the analysis for the state, said he was surprised by how consistent some districts’ grading was across subject areas.

Without looking at more data, though, he said he couldn’t tell whether a culture of high or low grading —- or some other factor —- was responsible.

Teachers and administrators can use the study to point them to problems in the classroom, said Sheryl Gowen, an education policy professor at Georgia State University. A big gap between test scores and classroom grades could signal that course content needs a makeover so it aligns better with state standards, she said.

Or it could suggest the teacher is not assessing students properly during the year. Training can help fix both situations.

“It’s either ‘Is the teacher teaching what needs to be taught?’ or ‘Is the teacher assessing what they teach correctly?’ Gowen said. “Or both.”

With education spending tight, it’s better to catch up students in high school than leave them to flail in college, she said.

“You don’t want to spend more resources at the higher level remediating students who could have been helped at the K-12 level,” Gowen said.

Last year, one in 10 college freshmen with a HOPE scholarship needed remedial help. In 2006-07, only about one in four students in the Georgia University System held on to their HOPE for the equivalent of three years of full-time study.

The End of Course Test is growing more important. A Georgia law mandates that some or all of the tests eventually replace the state graduation test as high school exit exams.

“It will get a lot more attention as that moves forward,” Callahan said.

But right now, some students are not taking the tests that seriously because they only account for 15 percent of their grade, he said.

For all eight subjects, Atlanta and Clayton were among the 20 districts that had the highest percentage of “A” students failing the End of Course Test, data shows.

In a statement issued by a spokesman, Atlanta officials said many students’ abilities aren’t on grade level at the start of the year. If they make a lot of progress, teachers will sometimes give them a good grade even if they don’t do well on standardized tests.

“The alternative is almost unthinkable, and that is failing students who worked hard and made so much progress but did not score high on the EOCT,” the statement said.

In response to the study, Clayton is offering more training for teachers on improving grading practices, increasing expectations for students and making lessons more rigorous and in line with state standards, Kay Sledge, chief academic officer, said in a statement.

Cobb spokesman Jay Dillon said in an e-mail that the district has worked hard to align teaching to state standards and focused on increasing classes’ rigor.

“But,” he added, “we feel there is always room to improve.”

CHECK OUR SOURCES

The study was issued by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, which commissioned the analysis from Georgia College & State University economics professor Chris Clark. The office’s mission is to improve student achievement through objective analysis of statewide data. It conducts research and audits academic programs to ensure they are spending state money well and meeting performance requirements. The office also provides policy support to the governor. The grading study can be viewed at www.gaosa.org/research.aspx

NOT MATCHING UP

Student grades in core high school classes didn’t track their results on a state standardized test given at the end of that course. Here’s how the area’s largest public school systems did overall on three of the eight subjects the state examined.

……………Failed………Failed……A for class,

……………EOCT………..class…….failed EOCT

BIOLOGY

Atlanta ……64.2%……….17.5% ……….24.6%

Clayton ……73.3%……….20.8% ……….32.9%

Cobb……….32.3%……….14.1%…………4.4%

DeKalb……..56.3%……….21.4%…………9.4%

Fulton……..39.8%……….15.9%…………4.1%

Gwinnett……29.4%……….13.9% ………..2.2%

GEOMETRY

Atlanta ……67.9%……….17.1% ……….20.7%

Clayton ……76.6%……….19.7% ……….30.4%

Cobb ……….9.9%……….10.8%…………1.6%

DeKalb: ……65.6%……….16.9% ……….38.2%

Fulton……..35.6%……….12.1%…………4.4%

Gwinnett……22.7%……….10.3%…………1.9%

ENGLISH

Atlanta ……51.2%……….20.3%……….19.6%

Clayton ……51.8%……….14.6%……….18.6%

Cobb……….23.1%……….14.3% ……….1.5%

DeKalb……..44.6%……….19.3% ……….9.1%

Fulton……..27.7%……….13.8% ……….2.5%

Gwinnett: ….20%…………11.1% ……….1.3%

Source: Governor’s Office of Student Achievement

ON AJC.COM

More school performance results ajc.com/grades