An increasing number of children graduate with the top grade from high schools in Germany and the increase accelerated throughout the covid-19 pandemic. The share of high school diplomas with a 1.0/4.0, the highest achievable grade, had risen from 0.9% in 2006 to 1.9% in 2019 but has since increased a further 79% to 3.4% in 2022. Some have attributed this to awarding higher grades than students deserve, also known as grade inflation. Others have attributed it to online learning where students can work at their own pace, have more time, less social anxiety but more opportunities to cheat. We would like to offer a more positive hypothesis. The quality of education and children’s wellbeing could have improved leading to higher grades on similarly difficult exams.
Source: Germany Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, 2023.