Teacher Grade Inflation Cuts Lifetime Income

Using linked administrative high‑school, college, and earnings records from Los Angeles and Maryland, researchers construct two teacher‑level grade‑inflation measures and show that being assigned to a teacher with higher average grade inflation lowers students' future test scores, reduces high‑school and college completion, and substantially lowers lifetime earnings. A one standard‑deviation increase in a teacher’s average grade inflation is reported to reduce the present discounted value of students’ lifetime earnings by about $213,872. — If teacher‑level grading practices materially change students’ educational trajectories and lifetime earnings, grading standards become a policy lever for both educational accountability and economic inequality.