Striving for 4.0: Teachers have noticed an emphasis on students achieving high GPAs, shifting the purpose of education away from learning and contributing to grade inflation

English teacher Kristin Anderson knows there will be a couple of heartbroken faces in her classroom when she passes out the first graded IB essay of the year. A student used to receiving A’s on every essay and assignment will inevitably receive a B.

Anderson’s reply to these students is, “we have all year to work on this skill, and you're gonna end up with an A. I know you are. But, if you knew everything that I was gonna teach you, what are we doing here?”

According to Anderson, the point of marking down grades is giving students areas to improve. However, she says that value has been lost.

This loss of the value of marking down grades is one facet contributing to a historic national trend — grade inflation. The “need” to receive an A, or high grades, is not only a common trait of SM East students, according to teachers in varying departments, but also for students in all levels of education, contributing to this national trend.

The “need” to receive an A, or high grades, isn’t only a common trait of SM East students, according to teachers in varying departments, but also contributes to this national trend.

The average high school grade point average of incoming freshmen at the University of Kansas was 3.71 in 2025, and just 10 years ago, the average GPA was 3.50. Similarly, the percentage of incoming freshmen with a GPA above 3.75 was 44% and is now up to 59%, according to the KU Common Data Set.

In the SM East 2025 graduating class, 25.4% of graduates are attending KU, according to data gathered by the Harbinger at the end of last year, and therefore factor into these GPA calculations. However, at SM East, the average ACT score has declined from 25.4 in 2015 to 23.7 in 2024, according to KS OpenGov.

There are pressures on teachers to assign higher grades and pressures on students to achieve higher grades, contributing to grade inflation.

According to teachers at both the college and high school levels, the societal mentality in education has shifted. Students care less about engaging with class material and learning from it, but instead about getting a good grade and maintaining a high GPA.

In an Instagram poll of 386 people 88% responded that they feel pressured to maintain a high GPA. This pressure can come from parents, college and career plans as well as the pressures of an academically rigorous school like SM East, according to students and teachers.

This pressure to achieve high grades contributed to the attitude that GPA is more important than learning, leading to less effort put into assignments, late assignments, cheating and overall less understanding of content, according to students and staff.

While teachers attempt to maintain their standards, there are also many outside pressures like graduation requirements, college admittance and aid and parent expectations. These all factor into students receiving higher grades and place the expectation of high grades on teachers rather than students, according to chemistry teacher Susan Hallstrom.

Chemistry teacher Susan Hallstrom teaches Honors and AP Chemistry, each known for their rigorousness with an immense workload and challenging test requirements. Hallstrom has seen students enter her class expecting to earn a high grade, just like they received in prior science classes, no matter the effort.

“Number one, my students expect A’s,” Hallstrom said. “And number two, when they don't get A's, they want to know what the heck I can do about it.”

This puts the pressure to achieve high grades on teachers instead of students. Hallstrom understands that not all students will be good at chemistry, yet, according to her, the effort is what is applauded, not the grade.

“I'm very happy if somebody in an academically rigorous class [can get] an A, or if they get a B, there's nothing wrong with the B in an academically rigorous class,” Hallstrom said. “And I don't think that students should think a B, when they've worked hard and learned a lot, is something to be angry about.”

Anderson will often find students arguing with her over one point on an assignment that, in the long run, won’t have that big of an impact on their grade. This further shows an increased emphasis by students on GPA and a decreased focus on true learning.

Further, anatomy teacher Carolyn Bossung has noticed that the anatomy curriculum has less content and goes into less depth than when she took anatomy in high school. Similarly, honors and AP biology teacher Jennifer Davis feels that her honors biology curriculum is nearing the content that was taught to regular biology students 10 years ago.

While there are many factors that can contribute to curriculum shifts, according to Bossung and Davis, overall, students are receiving the same or higher grades for a less challenging class.

“It's definitely not as rigorous as it used to be
and I feel like they're still struggling to respond and keep up to it.”

Ninety percent of students in an Instagram poll of 337 people said that they view school assignments more as steps to earn a grade than as opportunities to learn. And, inflated grades don’t prepare students for the “real world,” according to Bossung.

The push for higher grades comes not just from the expectation of getting a high GPA that comes from parents, teachers and the competitive nature of SM East, but also from the external pressure of post-secondary education.

Many competitive schools will look at GPA for acceptance, and while many colleges follow a holistic approach to applications, looking at class rigor, GPA is also used by colleges to determine merit-based aid, according to Forbes.

The high number of SM East graduates attending four-year universities post-graduation puts further pressure on current students to maintain that legacy, according to senior Vivian Fraley.

“SM East as a school that is known for academic excellence, and so I feel like the students that attend SM East just kind of have this expectation that's been there since the school has opened, that we’re going to get high grades, and we're going to maintain our reputation as one of the top schools in the state,” Fraley said.

Maintaining a higher GPA will increase students’ chances of getting into colleges with lower acceptance rates. A popular, competitive school for out-of-state students, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has an 8.2% acceptance rate for out-of-state applicants. The average high school GPA of enrolled first-time students was 4.49, according to the UNC Common Data Set.

By contrast, less competitive schools often have a lower GPA standard. For example, at KU, students with at least a 3.25 weighted GPA are assured admission. However, these schools also use GPA to calculate merit-based aid. Students attending KU can receive at least $1,000 and up to $5,000 a year based solely on GPA.

Former SM East administrator and assistant teaching professor at Rockhurst University, Susan Leonard has seen the pressure to maintain high grades and its contribution to college.

“GPAs are linked to real money now, and so I understand why kids at the high school level are completely freaked out about their GPAs,” Leonard said. “There's a lot of pressure making that happen.”

Graduation requirements also put further pressure on teachers to ensure that students will pass a class.

In recent years, Principal Jason Peres has started a school initiative where teachers create a “Path to Pass” for students at risk of receiving a D or F. Teachers make a path, coursework-wise, that allows students to pass a class by the end of the semester.

“Our efforts have paid dividends because we've amped it up a little bit over the past few years, which is why I think you see a decrease in our D & F rate,” Peres said. “But yeah, some students struggle to do things on time. Some students struggle to turn things in for a whole host of reasons. It's up to us to really intervene on their behalf, to do all we can so that they can demonstrate learning.”

Teachers will have a conversation with students and discuss what assignments they must complete, test retakes, if within the teacher's policy, and what grades they must receive going forward to pass a class. Math teacher Jamie Kelly gives students grace in extenuating circumstances, yet also holds them accountable.

Kelly doesn't feel pressure from Peres or administration to pass students.

“I think that's where maybe the misconception comes in, and we see this pathway to passing, or no Ds and Fs, but there's not [a rule that] you have to pass everybody, I don't feel that's the case, but I think some teachers do,” Kelly said.

While the teachers are responsible for putting together this plan, it’s up to students to take the initiative and follow through with their coursework, according to Peres.

“There are things we should change in education, right?” Bossung said. “But, and maybe grading is one of them, there's a big shift that needs to happen in order for this to work, and I don't think inflation of grades is the way. I think it's one of those things [that’s] almost like a participation trophy. It's like, ‘Hey, you tried here as a gold star.’
But that's not really how life works.”