Just How Important Are Grades?

"My kid gets generally good/average grades - mostly As & Bs, occasional C, but not failing.  Will he or she be ok? How important do you think grades are to overall success? Life success?"

First of all, I would like to say that I am not a big fan of the letter grading that we use in the education system.  We are all immensely diverse in our strengths and weaknesses and we all have a unique path and purpose in life. While we are beginning to see some changes, and I do think things are slowly getting better, I feel like the grading system and requirements of most public schools isn’t necessarily reflective of a student’s overall capabilities. That is to say, it caters to the strengths of only some and not all.

There is a famous quote that conveys what I am trying to say perfectly, “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." This quote is also frequently paired with the following meme on social media:

Like I said, I am not a fan.  HOWEVER, the current public school educational system that we have in place is not the devil either. It is evolving and this change will take time. Already, some school districts like the San Diego Unified District have made the transition to standards-based grading which promotes mastery of standards.  At the elementary level, instead of grades, students are given the following “academic marks” to indicate their level of mastery of standards: 4 - Exceeds Standards, 3 - Meets Standards, 2 - Approaching Standards, 1- Little to No Progress Towards Standards.

Since it will probably be a while before we see similar changes being made in all school districts, let’s examine just how important traditional letter grades are. If your student is making A’s and B’s with the occasional C, I think they will be just fine. However, D’s and F’s should be a cause for concern as should consistent C’s. In a subject like math particularly, I feel like an occasional C is ok, but should be treated as a warning that your student may need help.  The way skills are built upon each other year after year in math, a C can quickly turn into a D or F.

In terms of overall success and life success, I do think grades are very important to an extent, but they are not an “end all be all” that will seal a person’s fate or socioeconomic status in life forever.  Remember, we live in the land of opportunity and there are always exceptions that ultimately depend on a person’s character.  There are many successful people in the world who admittedly made terrible grades in school.  Likewise, there are just as many who ranked at the top of their class who struggle to make ends meet. 

If we take away those exceptions to the rule and look at grades through the lens of what research on this topic tells us, you will find that grades seem to be a consistent predictor of success in school, college and life.  A report by The UChicago Consortium on school research in 2017, The Predictive Power of Freshman Year High School GPA, finds that despite concerns about grades having different meanings at different schools, ninth-grade GPA is a strong predictor of not only high school graduation, but also college enrollment and persistence. 

An online article, Math Milestones: The Critical Role of Math Achievement in Student Success from the reputable leader in educational data, Renaissance, states, “81% of students who failed a math course in 6th grade failed to graduate high school.” (You know I had to sneak in something about the importance of math ;)

Bottom line, in my opinion, whether or not you agree with the grading system used by most schools, grades are important!

Pay attention to your child’s grades, and yes, I’m to be subject biased here, but especially math. Why?  Because math is extremely cumulative, meaning that if a student receives a D or F in math on an assignment, then more Ds and Fs are almost certain to follow if you do not go back and make sure they have an opportunity to master that skill. Notice how I put that “you” in bold in the previous sentence?  Yes, I’m talking to you, parents! If your child is behind in math and struggling to make good grades, you are a valuable and important part of their learning team and you should plan to take an active role in helping them (unless of course you can find a great tutor and afford to hire them for multiple days a week). Need help? That’s what we are here for!  Check out our FREE Grade Level Math Guides and many other FREE downloadable resources we have created specifically to help you, help your student!