GPAs Up, Reading Skills Down

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, high school student's grade point averages (GPAs) were increasing despite the fact that reading skills were not improving.

The NAEP reviewed some 26,000 high school transcripts and compared what they saw on the transcripts, to transcripts of students from 1990 (when an earlier, similar study was conducted). The reading abilities of 12^th graders in 2005 were found to be below the abilities of what were displayed in students from 1992.

Among the reasons why researchers thought they found these results were the difficulty of work given to students, grade inflation and changing standards in the classroom.

The fact that GPAs are up, really doesn't matter if the application (skills) do not reflect those GPAs. In fact, the study may be a wake up call for administrators, educators, parents and students that the grading system in the United States needs to be reviewed and perhaps changed to give a more accurate reflection of a student's abilities in school.

It used to be that GPAs actually meant something when one evaluated their year in school or when one graduated from high school. However, because of extra credit and changing views on how papers and tests should be graded, the GPAs do not necessarily reflect students' actual abilities to apply what they learn in class.

There are some schools who reward students with extra credit for giving cans during holiday can drives for the needy. There are also extra credit points given to students who see a performance or certain movie and then have to do an analysis of it. The point being that tests and papers, that once used to be the end-all to grades, are no longer the case anymore. Students are given second chances where they may not necessarily deserve a second chance.

Many students often will pass their English class only to move on to the next grade level and be completely unprepared for the next level of coursework. This continues to repeat until we have situations where there are college students taking remedial English classes just so that they can catch up to the 100-level coursework expected of all incoming college freshmen. This situation should not be the case.

The results of the NAEPs report are definitely a wake up call that several factors need to be reworked and changed within the public school systems today. It is only fair to students that they not be shortchanged and instead be challenged so that they may walk out of high school with a basic understanding of reading and writing.