ERIC Number: EJ1437431
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Jul-30
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-1068-2341
Could Minimum Grading Enhance High School Graduation Rates and Cost-Effectiveness across Arkansas?
Education Policy Analysis Archives, v32 n40 2024
High school graduation is a pivotal milestone that can shape students' future, offering them opportunities for higher education and gainful employment. Because research shows grade point averages and course failures to be predictive of high school graduation, it is important for students' life outcomes that their teachers assign them equitable grades. However, recent research has scrutinized how schools have traditionally graded students, calling for new approaches such as minimum grading. In this analysis, we simulate the economic impacts of implementing a minimum grading policy statewide during the ninth-grade year of the cohort of students who were in ninth grade in 2015-16 in Arkansas. On average, in Arkansas public schools, we estimate that minimum grading would affect about one (narrow bound) to 3%(broad bound) of students, increase cost-effectiveness by 6% (narrow bound) to 23% (broad bound), largely varying across districts, and have essentially no impact on the return on investment. The application of minimum grading shifted 1% of failing course grades to passing, thereby positioning 10% of previously failing students to pass. These findings suggest that minimum grading could serve as a cost-effective strategy to enhance graduation rates in districts with higher rates of affected students, without necessitating additional educational spending.
Descriptors: Grading, High School Graduates, Graduation Rate, Cost Effectiveness, Grade 9, Public Schools, Educational Practices, Educational Policy, Outcomes of Education, Equal Education, Economics, Simulation
Colleges of Education at Arizona State University and the University of South Florida. c/o Editor, USF EDU162, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620-5650. Tel: 813-974-3400; Fax: 813-974-3826; Web site: https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/epaa
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education; Grade 9; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Arkansas
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A