Study: HOPE scholarship entices students to learn
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

August 27, 2001
Contact: Beth Flannigan, 404-651-3574, bflannigan@gsu.edu

ATLANTA - Every year, the number of Georgia high-school graduates who qualify for Georgia's HOPE scholarship rises, raising concerns that high-school teachers are lowering their grading standards. Not so, according to a new Georgia State University study.

Instead, students appear to be legitimately earning the 3.0 grade-point average they need to be eligible for the lottery-funded program, researchers say. The availability of the HOPE Scholarship also seems to be helping narrow the SAT score gap between white and black students.

"Initial eligibility for the (HOPE) scholarship is based solely on a student's high-school grades, which are controlled by thousands of individual teachers across the state," said Gary Henry, director of Georgia State University's Applied Research Center in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. "So, it's been a concern that pressure from students and parents would lead teachers to consciously or unconsciously lower grading standards so that more students could qualify for the scholarships."

In their study, "Paying for Grades," Henry and co-author Ross Rubenstein, assistant professor of public administration and educational policy studies at Georgia State, base their conclusions on comparisons of grades and SAT scores over time. They used SAT scores as an independent measure of students' achievement, since teachers have no direct control over scores.

Henry and Rubenstein found that the SAT scores of students with a borderline 3.0 GPA actually have remained steady or, in the case of African-American students, increased since the HOPE scholarship program began in 1993. The researchers also found that the SAT scores of Georgia graduates with a "B" or better average have improved slightly over their counterparts in the South and the nation.

"If teachers were lowering their grading standards, it should show up in students' SAT scores," Rubenstein said. "If those who would have once earned C's are now getting B's or A's, then you'd expect the average SAT for B and A students to drop, because their SAT scores would still be those of students who deserved a C."

The fact that they have not fallen at all is a good indication that students who are making B's are, indeed, doing what has always been considered B work."

The study also indicated that the availability of the HOPE scholarship seems to be helping narrow the SAT score gap between white and black students. By looking at grades and SAT scores since the program began, Henry and Rubenstein found that while the SAT scores of white students with a 3.0 high school GPA remained essentially the same over time, the average SAT scores of black students with a 3.0 GPA have increased significantly.

"In fact, African-American males and females with a 3.1 high school GPA have increased their average SAT scores by over 20 points," Rubenstein said.

For a copy of the full report, contact Dr. Rubenstein at 404-651-0415 or e-mail rrubenstein@gsu.edu.