Side Effects

Side Effects

Virginia legislators are understandably concerned about a recent, and now repudiated, proposal to do away with the history portion of the Standards of Learning for the third grade. (Earlier editorials discussed the particulars at length. Elswhere in today's Commentary section we reprint a letter from former gov. George Allen on the subject.)

While they're pondering that issue, they might want to consider another one as well: a possible link between the SOLs and grade inflation.

Inside Higher Ed recently reported on a research paper by Patrick Marquardt, a professor at George Mason, looking at grade-point averages in Virginia and elsewhere.

Grade inflation has occurred across the country. Nationwide, the average GPA rose from 3.28 to 3.49 between 1995 and 2007. That's a 6.4 percent increase. During the same period, Virginia's average GPA rose from 3.27 to 3.56 -- an increase of 9.9 percent.

Now it's possible that students got better grades because, thanks to the SOLs, they learned more. But then Virginia's SAT scores would have risen commensurately as well. That didn't happen.

Marquardt has another explanation: In order to encourage students to buckle down, some school districts rewarded good performance on the SOLs with half-letter-grade improvements or used the SOLs as a final exam -- giving an A if a student passed.

On the whole, Virginia's Standards of Learning have proved a boon to the commonwealth. But strong medicine often has side effects, and the SOLs have created ancillary issues such as cheating scandals and the diversion of resources from arts and other curricula. Is grade inflation another side effect of the remedy? Perhaps the state should take a closer look.