The findings appear in a draft document which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal and may still be reviewed. The Becker Friedman Institute of Economics at the University of Chicago circulated it publicly this month.
How the test results have done fallen nationally, while ratings resurrectedResearchers believe parents may be underinvesting in their children. “Parents are the key to children’s success,” said Ariel Kalil of the University of Chicago. “What is needed is for parents to invest in their children’s skill development, and that parental effort needs to happen early and often. Anything that depresses parental investment is a problem.”
Kalil worries that this underinvestment in children is most pronounced in low-income communities, where, he said, high grades are often awarded for below-grade-level skills. After the pandemic, schools struggled to persuade families to sign up for free tutoring and summer programs to make up for months of interrupted instruction. Many report cards showed strong grades, reducing the urgency for parents to act.
Along with other recent research on long-term academic and economic consequences, this study reinforces the argument that grade inflation is not harmless. Inflated grades may be encouraging, but they can send false signals to both students, who may study less, and parents, who may see fewer reasons to intervene. Ultimately, it harms not only individuals, but also the skills of the American workforce and future economic growth, the researchers argue.
Kalil, a behavioral scientist, believes parents have more confidence in grades because they are familiar and easier to understand. Meanwhile, report cards are complicated and even many well-educated parents are confused about scaled grades and percentile rankings.
A survey that accompanied the online experiment revealed that a sizable proportion of parents do not trust standardized tests. Forty percent of parents in the study said the tests were biased. Nearly 30 percent thought student grades were a reflection of family income. Less than 20 percent of parents thought the tests captured their children’s abilities.
Kalil says there’s another psychological phenomenon at play even for parents who understand and value standardized testing: the tendency to ignore bad news when it’s accompanied by good. “If the report card is all A’s, there is a cognitive bias that tends to bury our head in the sand and reject bad information,” Kalil said.
There were indications in the data that Hispanic families trusted grades more and test scores less, while Asian families were more willing to pay attention to test results. But few Hispanic and Asian parents participated in the survey, so these patterns were not statistically significant. (Nearly 70 percent of respondents were white and 20 percent black.) Parents with at least a bachelor’s degree also paid more attention to standardized tests.
Solving the problem will not be easy. Researchers say schools can do more to explain what test scores measure and how to interpret them, but better communication alone may not change parents’ instincts. Reversing grade inflation would be the most direct solution, but that would require a broader change across all schools, something that is unlikely to happen quickly.
Meanwhile, the burden falls on parents to read report cards critically. When grades and test scores don’t match up, it’s worth asking why. A solid report card can be reassuring, but it may not always tell the full story of what a child knows or what help they might need.
Contact the staff writer Jill Barshay at 212-678-3595, jillbarshay.35 on Signal, or barshay@hechingerreport.org.
This story about parents and report cards was produced by The Hechinger Reportan independent, nonprofit news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Enroll in Test points and others Hechinger Newsletters.
