Underperformers and Overachievers? A 12th-Grade Examination of When GPAs and NAEP Scores Disagree

• In Event: Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Issues and Answers Using NAEP Data

Abstract

High school students with high grade point averages tend to do well on standardized tests, while high school students with low grade point averages tend to do poorly. The focus of this paper is on those students that do not fit these trends. Using nationally representative data from both NAEP and its High School Transcript Studies, this paper takes an analytical look at high school students whose NAEP twelfth-grade assessment scores do not match up with their overall grade point averages. Academic and student-reported measures are analyzed across “underperformers” (high GPAs, low NAEP scores) and “overachievers” (low GPAs, high NAEP scores) to better understand if the mismatched measures stem from individual reasons or are more reflective of national coursetaking patterns.

Authors

• Robert Colby Perkins, Westat

• Judy H. Tang, Westat