The findings appear in a paper draft which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal and may still be revised. It was publicly released by the Becker Friedman Institute of Economics at the University of Chicago this month.
As well as the test results fell down nationally while ratings have resurrectedresearchers believe that parents may not invest enough in their children. “Parents are the key to children’s success,” said Ariel Khalil of the University of Chicago. “What you need is for parents to invest in their children’s skill development, and you need that parental effort to happen early and often. Anything that depresses parental investment is a problem.”
Khalil is concerned that this underinvestment in children is more pronounced in low-income communities, where, she said, high scores are often given for below-grade skills. Since the pandemic, schools have struggled to convince families to sign up for free tutoring and summer programs to make up for months of interrupted learning. Many reports show solid ratings, reducing the urgency for parents to act.
Combined with other recent research on long-term academic and economic consequences, this study reinforces the argument that grade inflation is not harmless. Inflated grades may seem encouraging, but they can send false signals to both students, who may learn less, and parents, who may see less reason to intervene. Ultimately, this hurts not only people, but the skills of the American workforce and future economic growth, the researchers say.
Khalil, a behavioral scientist, believes that parents have more confidence in ratings because they are familiar and easier to understand. Meanwhile, scorecards are complicated, and even very well-educated parents are confused about scaled scores and percentile rankings.
A survey accompanying the online experiment revealed that a significant proportion of parents do not trust standardized tests. Forty percent of parents in the survey said the tests were biased. Almost 30 percent believe that student achievement is a reflection of family income. Less than 20 percent of parents’ thinking tests captured their children’s skills.
Khalil says there’s another psychological phenomenon at play even for parents who understand and value standardized tests: the tendency to ignore bad news when it’s paired with good news. “If the report is just an A, there’s a cognitive tendency to bury your head in the sand and dismiss the bad information,” Khalil said.
There were hints in the data that Hispanic families trusted grades the most and test scores the least, while Asian families were more likely to defer to test scores. But few Hispanic and Asian parents participated in the study, so these patterns were not statistically significant. (Nearly 70 percent of respondents were white and 20 percent black.) Parents with at least a bachelor’s degree also paid more attention to standardized tests.
Solving the problem will not be easy. Researchers say schools can do more to explain what test scores measure and how to interpret them, but better communication alone may not change parents’ instincts. Reversing grade inflation would be the most straightforward solution, but that would require a broader change in schools — something unlikely to happen quickly.
In the meantime, the onus is on parents to read the reports with a critical eye. When grades and test scores don’t match, it’s worth asking why. A strong report card can be reassuring, but it doesn’t always tell the full story of what a child knows or what help he or she may need.
Contact the staff writer Jill Barshay at 212-678-3595, jillbarshay.35 at Signal, or barshay@hechingerreport.org.
This story about parents and report cards is produced by The Hechinger Reportan independent, nonprofit news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Evidence points and others Hechinger Bulletins.
