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Show AS The Salt Lake Tribune MATION Sunday, April 26, 1998 It’s Getting Easier to Get Good Grades, Critics Say O48 ships based solely on academic merit were awarded nationwide in 1990, according to Morton Rise in high school GPAsnot reflected in standardized tests Schapiro, an economics professor at the University of Southern Cal- ifornia. BY ERIN VAN BRONKHORST THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SPOKANE, Wash. — Stellar students at Ferris High School had a problem: how to share the glory at commencement without putting everyone to sleep with speech after speech after speech. Yousee, there were 16 valedictorians in the 385-member Class of '97, all with perfect 4.0 gradepoint averages. Their solution? They took turns reading from Oh, The Places You'll Go, a book by Dr. Seuss. After 10 years of rising grades nationwide, multiple valedictorians are not uncommon. But increase in perfect GAs has not been matched by an increase in real achievement as measured on national tests, ‘That's called gradeinflation. In other words, today’s A is not your father’s A. These days, B, not C, is an aver- age grade for high school students, educators agree. “T like to compare it somewhat to the emperor’s new clothes,” said education Professor Perry Zirkel at Lehigh University in Bethlehem,Pa. In that Hans Christian Ander- Baby boomer parents also push teachers and students to keep grades high. Rules requiring stu- ed, so it looks like we've headed Its failure would haye forced the off the possibility of a shortened crew to return to Earth as early as Olympia, W. And teaching methods have changed, Texts used to train teachers offer a range of nonacademic factors — effort, citizenship, even the homesituation — that may be considered along with mastery of the subject in assigning grades. Also, fewer teachers now grade on a “curve,” which doomed a percentage of studentsto failure, aid Catherine Taylor, an education professorat the University of Washington. This state's top education official, Terry Bergeson, superintendent of public instruction, be- Thetruth is: @More than 30 percent of 30,000 college freahmen studied in 1996 by UCLA reported highschool GPAs of A-minusorbetter. Students with A averages outnumbered C students by more than 2-to-1. A decade earlier, about 22 percent had A-minus or better. Report co-author Linda Sax says there was no correspondtest scores. Scores on the SAT and ACT, exams taken by millions of col- lege-bound students, have re- 550° PER 100 PHOTOSORSLIDES TRANSFER though he cannotspell. “It’s obvi spoke on condition she not be identified. Somestudents beg teachers for higher grades so they can win scholarship money. Some $653 million in scholar- fare that nse picture quality. 5 Giaay Act wi ie 7. Fre Mobile Service & Free State Safety Inspection. Call for Details, Salt Lake pss Provo/Orem 373-8726 3: 2.1072 ‘noime movies and gives you up in 18% enhancementof dark or eaterexpased shots. amt eanSMM © 16MM © Slides « Photos Minimum order $24.95 Transter doesinclude not tape (Qe MERICA Our digital 6qwipmoat transiers: SHURRYE ‘= Save apt om = Class A ys Fesy Freeway Access 485-7000 2768 So West Temple grades provides an unreliable “snapshot.” A better indicator would be a district-by-district analysis of grades. Prielipp, Bergeson and others say it’s more important to focus on & $30 million state education reform effort that aims to raise standards, partly by monicoring students’ progress with pericdic statewidetests. As the standards take effect, “grades are going to mean less andless all the time,”said reform commission Chairman Chuck Collins. Mention gradeinflation to staff members at Ferris High School, and sparks arelikely to fly. “What the kids get here on this campus they earn. Kids pay the Principal Jon Bentz said. ous, when you know your student, that the teachersare giving A for effort,” said the woman, who Don't settie tur projection trans- declining SAT scores and rising niors at Ferris signed up for adyanced-placement second-semester courses in eight subjects. The classes, offered in about half the nation’s high schools, follow nationai standards and maylead to editorial column in the Spokesman-Review newspaper that just onestudentbe chosen. One mother of a Ferris sophomore said her son gets top grades methodofpurifying their air “We really need moreof a re- price to get the grades,” Ferris view. Contending the honor “meansnothing,” he urged in an late Friday. Columbia's astronauts immediately switched to a more complicated but reliable are grading kids, next to some objective standard,” said Bergeson. Still, there are no plans to write rules governing teachers’ grading policies. State teachers’ union president Lee Ann Prielipp said comparing mainedflat or risen only slightly Bruce Fatz, another Ferris valedictorian, takes a different their mission to study the brain. flection by teachers op how they ministrators say. During the same could be rising. The carbon dioxide removal unit shut down without warning in orbit for all 16 to 17 days of lieves grade inflation exists. during the past 10 years, test adperiod, the tested students’ reported GPAs haverisen. Marla Meekhof, one of the crowd of Ferris valedictorians last spring, says it’s natural for people to suspect gradeinflation, but she’s not convinced. “T guess I tend to take the optimistic side of the issue and ask what's happening to our kids,” said Meekhof, now a student at Whitworth Coliege in Spokane, adding the ‘‘caliber” of students Wednesday. Theunit had to operatereliably for the seven astronauts to remain aly $goo PER SMALL REEL(3° DIAMETER- 50 FT.) be stressed,” said counselor Carolyn KeckatHeal High Schoolin on the matter.” national mission.” SLIDES & PHOTOS TRANSFERRED TO VIDEO " “The students get upset if they don’t do well... . They seem te long as no one presses the truth in it failed and threatened to cut short their two-week mission. Commander Richard Searfoss removed one end ofa small hose in the stalled carbon-dioxide zemoval unit and blocked it with tape. Hethen reiastalled the hose. Whenheturned on the carbondioxide removal unit, the light came on. To everyone's relief, it stayed on. “We've got some good news for you, Rick,” Mission Control said. “tt seems to be working as expect- be eligible for sports are another factor. subjects — into believing his new clothes are the finest in the land, when in fact he is parading around in his underwear. “Everybody's's happy, including the emperor,” he said, “just as increase THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -— Space shuttle Colambia’s astronauts successfully restarted a critical air purifier Saturday after denis to keep up their grades to sen tale, the emperor is hoodwinked — aiong with most of his ing Space Shuttle Astronauts Restart Air Purifier That Threatened to Cut Mission Last year, 167 juniors and se- college credit for those who pass national exams. Ferris teacher Leann Dincen offered an example of goed research. When she assigned her fresh- man henors students to gatherinformation on the Kwakiutl tribe of Canada’s Queen Charlotte Is- lands, many used home computers to obtain pagesof printed material, including color pictures of tribal ‘acts. “At the upperend[financially], the kids are weil-traveled, com- aany Silla foundation i at gives: BVO IWINe (evs aes4 puter literate, and when they set about doing their course work, they put their heart and soulinto it, and their families back them up,” Bentz said. Pounding his desk, the principal added: “ii anybody thinks we're diluting the grades, they can come here and sit in these classes and see what the kids are doing. I’m sick and tired of this criticism.” Call for ra peat 2 RC bree tbh) mtFyBeecE ee 227-3061 ; Friday, May t ttonwood, LDP)ae Saturday, May 2 6. 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