In February, we took a look at the belief statement Grades are the best indicator of a student’s knowledge and skill level. Overall, voters did not believe it (36-55) and neither did parents (36-57). This week, we look at data from the most recent survey for Winning the Issues (April 27-29) that asked voters to choose whether classroom grades or standardized test scores were the best indicator of a high school student’s knowledge and skill.
While neither option had a majority, voters overall said classroom grades by a margin of +11 (48-37). Parents were among the groups most likely to say classroom grades were the best indicator (56-35, +21). While non-parents also tended to say that grades were better than test scores, it was only by a margin of 8 (45-37).
Of note, while both African American and Hispanic voters each had nearly one in two prefer classroom grades to test scores, the margins among these groups were smaller compared to voters overall and parents (+6 grades among African Americans; +5 among Hispanics).
Also of note, those who thought a 70% in Algebra 1 indicated readiness for Algebra 2 (42% of the electorate) preferred classroom grades by a margin of 17 (54-37). On the other hand, among the 43% who said a 70% did not indicate readiness, the margin between grades and test scores was only 6 (46-40).
This research joins a larger body of research showing parents rely more on classroom grades than test scores, most notably that of Learning Heroes released at the end of last year. However, it also shows that voters overall — including non-parents — agree that grades are better than test scores. Voters may not believe that grades are the best indicator of student knowledge absolutely, but when the alternative is test scores as currently defined, they tend to prefer the grades.