High school students' grades keep getting better, but standardized tests tell a different story. According to new research, while grade inflation is continuing to drive high school grades up, students are slipping on more objective measures of learning. As more and more colleges are turning away from a recent shift towards test-optional admissions, this data indicates that asking students for their standardized test scores is increasingly necessary to gauge learning.
Last month, the ACT released research indicating that student GPA in the post-COVID-19 era has declined in its power to predict student success in college. In contrast, standardized test scores stayed relatively stable in their ability to predict whether students will receive passing grades in their first year of college.
