How Should Parents Respond When Grades Are Good, But Test Scores Are Bad?

Why It Matters

Which signal parents trust influences how much remediation or enrichment children receive, shaping human capital formation and potentially amplifying inequality across cohorts. This has implications for how schools, policymakers, and educators present assessment information to families.

Summary

Researchers at the University of Chicago examined how parents respond when classroom grades and standardized test scores send conflicting signals about their child’s performance. They highlight that grades often reflect behavior and teacher judgment and have experienced inflation, while standardized tests more consistently measure academic learning. Through experimental evidence, the team shows parents update beliefs and make different investments—time, resources, and expectations—depending on which signal they trust. Those private decisions aggregate to meaningful effects on children’s skill development and long-term economic outcomes.

Original Description

When a child brings home good grades but low standardized test scores, which signal should parents pay attention to? In this episode, Ariel Kalil of the UChicago Harris School of Public Policy discusses new research showing that parents lean heavily on grades, and high grades often crowd out the extra help low test scores would otherwise prompt. With pandemic learning losses disguised by inflated grades, Kalil discusses how this dynamic may mean that struggling kids aren't getting the support they need.

🎧 Listen and Subscribe

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-pie-an-economics-podcast/id1509074261?i=1000771885412

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1myW5f5mLo6mkmYOSBxDcC?si=8QF1a8njSWmZSZ1_BgZlCA

BFI Website: https://bfi.uchicago.edu/?post_type=insights&p=70539&preview=true

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🔗 Related Links

It’s Becoming Impossible to Know How Your Kid Is Doing in School NYT Op-ed: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/opinion/grades-school-test-scores.html