Grade inflation is running rampant at Ontario high schools.
Average Grade 12 marks, which partially determine university admissions in Ontario, have been gradually increasing over the years. While this trend was exacerbated by online schooling during COVID-19, grade inflation has persisted following the return of in-person learning.
Standardized testing, while an imperfect solution, offers a meaningful way to address the inequitable effects of grade inflation on university admissions in Ontario.
One of grade inflation’s most significant impacts is on the university admissions landscape. A mark of 90 per cent at one high school might be as easy to get as an 85 per cent at another due to each school’s varying levels of grade inflation.
Given the role academic performance plays in university admissions, there are many concerns about how grade inflation comes into play. For one, students may be unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged in terms of their grades depending on where they went to high school.
To combat this disparity, some programs like those at the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering have implemented an “adjustment factor”—a tool that normalizes grades from high schools across the province.
Others have proposed greater weighting of supplementary information, from lists of extracurriculars to written essays, which many Ontario university programs consider in their admissions processes.
However, these solutions bring with them many significant flaws of their own. Extracurricular participation is rife with inequities—literature has demonstrated low-income and marginalized students face extensive barriers accessing extracurriculars.
Many extracurriculars like debate tend to be more prevalent at private or well-off high schools. Extracurricular activities like specialized sports come with many expenses which restrict access.
One of the key ways standardized testing promotes equity is by offering an objective assessment of student capabilities, independent of factors like socioeconomic status or racial background. This helps identify disparities in educational outcomes and provides insights into areas where targeted interventions may be needed to support students.
Moreover, standardized tests offer universities a standardized metric for evaluating student readiness for higher education. In a diverse province like Ontario, where educational experiences can vary widely between schools and regions, standardized testing provides a common ground for admissions decisions.
Grade inflation, fueled by factors such as pressure to maintain high graduation rates and competitive college admissions, can distort students’ academic records and undermine the credibility of high school grades as a measure of academic preparedness. Without standardized tests, universities may struggle to differentiate between students from schools with rigorous grading standards and those with more lenient ones.
Vineeth is a third-year Health Sciences Student and one of The Journal’s Features Editors.
Tags
Education, grade inflation, university admission
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