Researchers have documented for years that high school grades have risen while standardized test scores have stayed flat or fallen. One widely cited analysis found the share of test-takers with A-range GPAs rose from 39 to 47 percent over about two decades, even as average SAT scores slipped. A recent ACT report on grade inflation and discrepant readiness indicators adds to that picture. The concern is not that students are failing to try but that a grade no longer tells colleges, employers, or families what a student can do.

Writing grades are especially prone to drift. Unlike a math test with a right answer, an essay score depends on a teacher's judgment, and judgment is shaped by pressure. Teachers who worry about complaints, retention of enrollment, or student wellbeing may nudge scores upward without intending to. Over time, the meaning of a B or an A changes quietly, and different teachers' grades become hard to compare.

The remedy is not to lower grades but to tie them firmly to evidence. A teacher who can point to rubric descriptors and sample papers is in a far stronger position to explain a grade, defend it, and keep it consistent from year to year. Anchoring is a professional habit that benefits students as much as it constrains teachers, and departments that treat grading consistency as a shared project, not an individual burden, find that disagreements shrink and confidence in grades grows across the building.

Write descriptors that describe evidence, not effort

Review your rubric for words that reward effort or impression rather than performance, such as good, strong, or thoughtful. Replace them with observable features, such as includes at least two specific quotations and explains how each supports the claim. A top score should describe a response that a stranger could identify as excellent. When the descriptors are concrete, it becomes harder for inflation to creep in.

• Replace effort-based words in descriptors with observable evidence
• Keep three to five anonymized anchor papers for each score level
• Reread anchors midway through each grading session
• Calibrate with colleagues on a few papers every term
• Limit the weight of behavior and extra credit in writing grades

Use anchor papers to keep standards steady

Keep three to five anonymized essays from past years that illustrate each score level. Reread them at the start of each grading session and again midway through a stack, comparing the papers in front of you with the anchors. This habit counters drift caused by fatigue and by the pressure to be generous late in a long grading night. Anchors also give you something concrete to show students and parents.

Calibrate with colleagues at least once a term. Score a few papers independently, compare, and discuss differences without defensiveness. Departments that do this regularly can answer questions about grading consistency with evidence instead of assurances. It also builds trust among teachers, and the conversation is most productive when everyone brings a paper they found difficult to score, since those are the papers where standards are tested and clarified.

Separate grades from other signals

Many inflated grades result from folding behavior, participation, extra credit, and effort into a writing score. Consider reporting writing proficiency separately from other factors so that the grade reflects what the student can do. If your school uses a single grade, limit the weight of non-academic components. Clear boundaries make a score more informative, and a teacher who tracks extra credit and participation separately in the gradebook can always see what the writing score alone would be.

Communicate what the grades mean. A short statement in the syllabus, such as a B indicates a clear claim with relevant evidence and some explanation, helps families interpret feedback. Share the rubric at the start of every unit. When students understand what each level requires, they are less likely to see a lower score as arbitrary, and posting the grade descriptions beside the rubric on the class site lets families check the standard themselves instead of relying on a teacher's summary alone.

Monitor the distribution and use tools as a check

Look at the distribution of your writing grades each term. If most students receive As and Bs while external measures show a wider spread, it may be time to examine your standards. Compare your scores with those of a colleague on the same papers. Where permitted, a rubric-based tool can provide a second view of the same essays against your published criteria, and large differences are worth discussing.

Treat any difference as a prompt for reflection and not as an answer. The teacher knows the context, the student, and the assignment, and may have good reasons for a particular score. The purpose is to catch drift early, before it becomes habit. Honest grades serve students better in the long run, and keeping a short log of the cases where you and the second view disagreed, with your reasoning, gives you a record that improves your judgment over time.