WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Nationwide, U.S. students with good high school records are discovering they don't have all the skills needed to succeed in college.
College admission test results indicate possible grade inflation. Fifteen years ago, students with A averages accounted for 28 percent of Scholastic Aptitude Test takers. Although 42 percent of college-bound seniors have A averages, they score no better on the college admissions tests than did A students a decade earlier, the Gannett News Service reported.
While some point to high school teachers giving higher grades for weaker work, others point to an easier coarse load that doesn't require rigorous courses in math, science and writing, subjects needed to prepare for college.
Clifford Adelman, a U.S. Department of Education researcher who has examined thousands of high school and college transcripts, told Gannett that a student taking four years of math in high school, including trigonometry and calculus, has doubled the chance of earning a bachelor's degree.
