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Self-reported grades are heavily used in research and applied settings because of the importance of grades and the convenience of obtaining self-reports. This study reviews and meta-analytically summarizes the literature on the accuracy of self-reported grades, class ranks, and test scores. Results based on a pairwise sample of 60,926 subjects indicate that self-reported grades are less construct valid than many scholars believe. Furthermore, self-reported grade validity was strongly moderated by actual levels of school performance and cognitive ability. These findings suggest that self-reported grades should be used with caution. Situations in which self-reported grades can be employed more safely are identified, and suggestions for their use in research are discussed.
KEYWORDS: GPA, grade point average, rank, validity.
The grade point average (GPA) is one of the most studied variables in education and educational psychology. Unfortunately, it is often impractical or even impossible to obtain school transcripts. Instead, self-reported grade point averages are often obtained for the purposes of research or to facilitate placement of students. An ongoing concern has been the extent to which self-reported grades are an accurate reflection of actual earned grades. The purpose of this study was to review the literature on self-reported grades and grade point averages and to conduct meta-analyses of the correlation and average differences between self-reported grades and actual earned grades, as well as the base rates of under-reporting, accurate reporting, and over-reporting of grade point averages. This study also aggregates and clarifies the literature on the moderating effect of other variables on the construct validity of self-reported grades (e.g., current class rank, gender, race, general cognitive ability). This synthesis will provide data of fundamental importance to researchers and practitioners who use self-reported grades in their research and work.
The common use of self-reported grades is understandable, because grade point averages are important. Not only are they summaries of student learning, they are also important predictors of performance at other levels of education and of other important life outcomes. For example, high school GPA is one of the best predictors of college grades (Ramist, 1984; Willingham & Breland, 1982), and college GPA is a robust predictor of performance in graduate school (Kuncel, Hezlett, & Ones, 2001), pharmacy programs (Kuncel, Credé, Thomas, Klieger, Seller, & Woo, in press),...