Academic Achievement and Impression Management as Factors in the Grading of White Junior High Pupils

The process of grading pupil performance in American schools has received considerable attention over the years. Most of the previous studies have focused on the observed associations between grades and certain pupil characteristics such as family background, sex, abilities, attitudes and behaviors. Far less attention has been given to the influence of teachers' assessment of pupil behavior on grades. Incorporating this dimension into our analysis of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 data, we not only found virtually no difference in school performance by gender, but also that the influence of family SES on grades operates almost entirely through academic achievement and behavior in school. Furthermore, since academic achievement affects grades both directly and indirectly, achievement seems to reflect both the quality of work performed in class as well as the teacher's evaluation of the adolescent's role performance. Consistent with this interpretation, the pupils' self-reported behavior does not affect his or her grades directly, but indirectly through the teacher's evaluation of the adolescent's role performance. This finding suggests a pupil's demeanor and behavior have institutional meaning only as they are filtered through the teacher's perceptions.