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In 1976, noted psychologist Donald Campbell argued that the more organizations use a single measure to make decisions, the more organizations will try to score better on the assessment of that measure. This distorts the measure’s value and generates what he aptly called “corruption pressure.”
For example, when schools focus on students passing standardized tests, teachers teach to the test rather than focusing on students actually learning the relevant concepts. If schools’ graduation rates are the metric of school success, administrators will pressure teachers to increase grades and make classes easier to increase graduation rates.
Of course, administrators always insist they care about providing quality education, but “we have to meet the students where they are.” Administrators might also talk about or bring in experts to help teachers teach better. Still, almost all incentives are on getting students through to graduation, not letting students fail or get low grades, and assisting students so they don’t withdraw from class.
In most schools, grades have been increasing while standardized test scores are declining. Since 2015, The Every Student Succeeds Act has emphasized graduation rates and GPA, so schools have emphasized higher grades and graduation rates despite the fact that students’ standardized exam scores are decreasing slightly. Unfortunately, as students get higher grades, less-motivated students are less likely to attend school.
Recently, many colleges and universities have moved to test-optional admissions. Reformers argued that standardized tests measure only students’ test-taking ability, are unfair to students from underrepresented groups, and do not accurately predict college success. Reformers claimed that students’ high school GPAs better predict college success. However, recent studies find that “[standardized] test scores are more reliable than high school grades” in predicting college success.
Once universities stopped using tests such as the SAT and ACT and focused on high school grades, corruption pressure undoubtedly contributed to increasing high school grades. Students, parents and administrators pressure teachers to increase grades and often to make classes easier and to reduce requirements to graduate. Some schools reduced math and writing requirements.
According to recent research, the best way to determine a student’s collegiate potential is by using both test scores and high school GPAs. Putting GPAs and test scores in context is also essential, such as seeing if a low GPA is because a student went to a challenging school and seeing if the student’s SAT score is above the school’s average. Debasing measures of learning erodes the ability to provide quality education.•
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Bohanon and Horowitz are professors of economics at Ball State University. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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