Ninth-grade GPA strongly predicts on-time high school graduation, with an especially large gap between F and D students¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr3·q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
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q2 i? Adjusted for controls and fixed effects, higher freshman GPA predicts higher probability of graduating high school in four years, with the largest difference between F (about 18 percent) and D (about 60 percent) students. → Easton 2017
Evidence¶
Easton 2017¶
Easton, J.Q., Johnson, E., & Sartain, L. (2017). The predictive power of ninth-grade GPA. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/predictive-power-ninth-grade-gpa
q2 · i? · associational · r3
Observational analysis of CPS administrative data (2009-11 cohorts) using models adjusting for school and school-by-cohort fixed effects and controls for demographics, prior test scores, neighborhood poverty, course-taking, and special education status. The figure-text reports the F-vs-D graduation contrast: "large difference in graduation rates between F students (at about 18 percent) and D students (at about 60 percent)."
"Note on the figure the large difference in graduation rates between F students (at about 18 percent) and D students (at about 60 percent). This suggests that avoiding freshman Fs is an important way to increase the likelihood of on-time graduation"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Freshman GPA is highly stable, correlating 0.87 with eleventh-grade GPA — related
- Ninth-grade GPA predicts college enrollment and one-year college persistence in linear, incremental patterns — related
- Ninth-grade on-track status predicts graduation more strongly than prior achievement, with a 55 percentage point gap after controls — related
- Freshman OnTrack remains a strong predictor of high school graduation even as on-track rates have risen — related
- Freshman attendance below 85 percent predicts non-graduation even among students with similar grades — related
- The first two semester course failures in ninth grade are associated with a 30 percentage point decrease in the probability of graduating — related
- Ninth-grade GPA predicts beginning-of-tenth-grade PLAN scores even after controlling for eighth-grade test scores, suggesting grades reflect new learning — related
- Within every student category, freshman GPA, course failures, and absences are strongly related to five-year graduation rates, with large drops per half grade point, per additional course failure, and per absence band — related
- Core-course failures in freshman year strongly predict non-graduation, similarly across subjects — related
- First-year performance is treated as important enough that graduates are attributed to their first-enrolled high school — related
- Course grades and GPA predict high school and college outcomes better than standardized test scores or coursework — related
- On-track status predicts graduation better than eighth-grade test scores — related
- The on-track indicator is strongly related to students' likelihood of graduating — related
- Attendance and effort, more than test scores or demographics, drive course grades, GPA, course failure, graduation, and college readiness — related
- Among students with the same ACT scores (21-23), college graduation rates are 77 percent for those with a high school GPA of 3.5 or higher versus 40 percent for those with a GPA of 2.0-2.4 — related
- Students' survey reports of their school experiences predict later academic and well-being outcomes including attendance, grades, test scores, graduation, college enrollment, and well-being — related
- Attendance Support students maintained a 3.0 GPA despite low attendance but graduated high school at 71 percent, below the district average, and fewer than half attended college — related
- Low attendance is linked with lower academic skills, grades, and high school graduation, and high attendance with higher ones — related
- Freshman-year GPA alone correctly predicts about 80 percent of on-time high school graduates — related
- Higher course grades predict larger ACT gains regardless of starting PLAN score; students with Ds or Fs lose ground — related
- High school GPA is a better predictor of college graduation than standardized test scores, yet districts continue to rely on test-based readiness benchmarks — related
- Course grades are more predictive than standardized test scores of high school and college success — related
- Attending a high school with higher social-emotional value-added increases students' likelihood of graduating and enrolling in a four-year college — related
- Prediction and intervention are different problems: highly predictive features such as prior GPA are often ones an institution cannot change — related
- A course whose DFW grades produced no expected persistence drop suggests some courses may act as guardrails associated with retained persistence after failure — related
- Ninth grade GPAs are the single most predictive indicator of high school graduation, college enrollment, and degree completion for all English Learner groups — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
ninth-grade-gpa-predicts-graduation |
title |
Ninth-grade GPA strongly predicts on-time high school graduation, with an especially large gap between F and D students |
description |
Ninth-grade GPA strongly predicts on-time high school graduation, with an especially large gap between F and D students |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2017 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-08 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — easton-2017 |
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