MassPotential: Grade inflation is damaging students. Graduation standards need to push back.
Mary Tamer, a former member of the Boston School Committee is executive director of MassPotential, a nonprofit education organization.
On student report cards across the Commonwealth, it appears that students are thriving in their classes. But objective measures tell us that the reality is the opposite, and grade inflation is to blame.
Over the past decade, grades have increased across all core academic subjects in the state, while Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, scores have sharply fallen, according to a 2024 study by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University. The study also found that MCAS scores are one of the best predictors of college completion and workforce readiness.
Nationally, the share of students earning an “A” or “B” in their high school courses has drastically increased since 2010, yet up to 60 percent of college freshmen across the country need to take remedial courses to develop skills they should have learned in high school, at a cost of more than $1 billion annually to students and families.
Read the full story via The Boston Globe >> https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/02/opinion/graduation-mcas-students-massachusetts-grade-inflation/?event=event12