High School Grades Are An Important Measure Of The Achievement Of Students
High school grades are an important and widely used measure of the achievement of students in secondary education. As such, they are important to the admissions decisions of selective admissions colleges. They are also important to financial aid decisions in those institutions that practice preferential aid packaging - those colleges that offer more grant aid and less loans to financially needy students that the institution finds especially attractive and wants to enroll. In some states, high school grades determine eligibility for state merit-based scholarship programs. But not all types of students get the best high school grades required for selective college admission, financial aid packages weighted with scholarships instead of loans, and access to state-financed merit based scholarship assistance. Our analysis of data finds that:
- Females are more likely than males to get the best high school grades. - Students from families with incomes of more than $70,000 per year are more likely to get good high school grades than are students from families with incomes below $39,000 per year.