Arkansas Blog

"There's concern, based on the Georgia experience, that teachers will fudge grades so students may qualify for scholarships."

Then maybe the only requirement should be a diploma or a GED and to have lived in Arkansas for the last 5 years?

It seems like it would be prudent to determine where grade inflation already exists (I agree that it does) before we slap penalties on it under the assumption that the instant cause is lottery scholarships, not to mention the fact that while the teachers who do the inflating are the culprits, the students bear the punishment.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Governor, perhaps some investigation of the current state of things is in order before we charge ahead with this approach.

Why not have the scholarship for any student that qualifies for admission into a college get the scholarship.

Then the schools can concern themselves with if a student is going to be able to do college work.

Wouldn't you think a college would have people with knowledge and experience to be making that call? More so than state leg.

I can't tell you how thrilled I am that my recommendation on this exact issue in a past ArkTimes blog entry has been heard. Click on the blue link for a 1997 Chronicle of Higher Ed story.

Arkansas Student wrote "perhaps some investigation of the current state of things is in order before we charge ahead with this approach."

This is already being conducted. Grade Inflation Reports are part of the annual Arkansas School Performance reports generated by NORMES at UA-Fayetteville.

I agree with Any*Mouse when they said "maybe the only requirement should be a diploma or a GED". If these students that graduate require remediation then their public school gets a demerit. After the number of students with demerits reach a certain percentage of class size for a district then the superintendent is fired and a new one is hired to correct the problem. If a coach doesn't win games then they are replaced so why shouldn't superintendents be held to the same standards. Maybe then they would get off their asses and into the classrooms and find out from the teachers where they need help to provide an education for their students.

Thanks for the heads up on the Grade Inflation Reports, DrRingDing. I just hope the right people are actually reading them.

If the only requirement should be a diploma or a GED, then the Leg will have to back off using institutional retention and graduation rates as performance indicators for future funding. More funding will also be required for additional faculty and staff to provide the necessary academic support for underprepared students to be successful.

I rethought a post about a 19 on the ACT being very easy to come by. There are gender and racial gaps on that test and other factors that come into play. But yes, a valedictorian who has the option of retaking the test multiple times but cannot get to the threshhold of a 19 is potentially undeserving of a scholarship to college.. unless there is some kind of learning disability or fear of No. 2 pencils at play.

I've been advocating the 'diploma / GED only' since the lottery passed the voters last November, I'm glad to see some AT blogists agreeing with me.

Dr Ding, I am sure there will be a lot of remediation required, which will give the state the chance to really do something about the inadequate preparation the students are receiving. There absolutely MUST be some kind of sanction for high schools who continue to produce 3.0 grads who need remediation.

But, I'm not really concerned that the diploma / GED only would increase the money spent on remediation - pay me now or pay me later. The preparation of the HS grads is a disgrace and if the only way to get started on fixing it is a huge increase in remediation expense - then so be it.

I wish I'd been a victim of grade inflation. I'm never the victim of anything except theft and high expectations.

How can someone be a valedictorian with an ACT of 19? That's not grade inflation. That's failure to teach, in an environment of very low standards.

If they can't score at least a 19, they will not succeed in college anyway.

By the way, what will be the standards for non-traditional students? I think with the economy like it is, alot of people will be looking to return to school to finish degrees or retrain, etc.

Does anyone know the proposed rules for nontraditional students?

Pure guessing on the ACT results in a composite score of 12.

An 8th grader should be able to score in the 20-25 range.

So, any 12th grader who is scoring below 19 is not even working at a middle school level of mastery; that is, they are more than 4 years behind.

The 8th grade version of the ACT is called EXPLORE. It has a maximum score of 25. According to ACT, if an 8th grader scores a 22 on EXPLORE, they should also score at least 22 on the actual ACT. An 8th grader who has already taken Algebra 1 or Geometry should score even higher on the ACT than on EXPLORE. I know that this is true from experience.

Eighth graders who score less than 19 on the EXPLORE/ACT are not even ready for high school, much less college.

College bound students should be scoring in the 26-36 range, although those in the 26-31 range still have lots of room for improvement, and so they should not expect to get many A's in college. To ensure that some capable students are not overlooked, the cutoff score could be lowered to, say, 24.

Students with ACT scores of 24 or above should get aid to cover 100% of their financial need.

This would be a better approach than giving small scholarships to lots of poorly prepared students who are unlikely to ever graduate from college or to rich kids who can pay full sticker price.