Massachusetts politicians are celebrating the highest scores any state has ever received on Advanced Placement (AP) examinations, tests used for college admissions and substitutes for college courses. Seemingly, students are better prepared for college than ever before.
Were it only so. Unfortunately, the higher scores are likely due to easier AP tests, not more learned students. Though Massachusetts students continue to outperform those in other states on the exams, there is no evidence that the performance of the state’s own students exceeds those of students in prior years.
The College Board, the agency in charge of the AP program, admits its questions are easier and passing scores have been lowered on key tests like the English Language exam. They justify the easier tests as an adjustment to a less demanding curriculum in high school and lowered expectations by colleges and universities. In other words, AP is simply adapting to a broad decline in educational standards.
A three-university team of economists has taken a careful look at the detrimental effects of grade inflation for high school students. The trends they show suggest that grade point averages (GPAs) in high school nationally climbed over a half a letter grade from about a “B” to over a “B+” between 1985 and 2020, according to information supplied by the National Center for Education Statistics.
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Michael Torres excerpt:
“The College Board, the agency in charge of the AP program, admits its questions are easier and passing scores have been lowered on key tests like the English Language exam.”