Nearly 90% of parents, the majority of whom say their child gets grades of B or higher in school, believe their children are performing at or above grade level in reading and math. However, data from standardized tests suggests the reality is much worse than what parents think.
A report from Gallup and Learning Heroes, titled “B-flation: How Good Grades Can Sideline Parents,” suggests that not all grades are equal across schools because as little as 20% of students were meeting the grade-level standards for reading and math.
Most of those parents use report cards from their child’s school to measure how well they’re performing.
Researchers note that student report cards also consider attendance, participation and effort in measuring achievement. This weight on report cards, which is just one source of information on academic progress, can lead many parents to see good grades as a sign that their child is meeting grade-level standards.
The reality is standardized tests suggest that the share of students meeting grade-level benchmarks in reading and math is between 20% to 50%.
Instead of just focusing on report cards, researchers suggest that parents need to glean information about their child’s progress from multiple sources, such as ongoing feedback from teachers, statewide tests, and what they observe at home and in the classroom.