GRADE INFLATION -- Grade inflation -- the practice of giving students higher grades than they have earned -- is a taboo topic in education circles, and some teachers insist it does not exist.

Few teachers are willing to talk about it on the record. And it's difficult to measure whether it has gotten worse in recent years, because school officials say they do not track grades over time.

Still, it's clear that many students across Georgia are getting A's and B's in high school, then struggling when they get to college.

Interviews with dozens of teachers reveal widely different experiences with grading and pressure to give students nothing lower than a B.

The head of an influential teachers group in DeKalb County acknowledges that it's a problem.

In a March letter to Superintendent Johnny Brown, David Schutten, president of the Organization of DeKalb Educators, wrote of several problems his members saw in high schools:

"We are also concerned about grade inflation that has developed as a result of the HOPE scholarship. . . . Some teachers feel pressured to give students grades they did not earn."

DeKalb County school board member Lynn Cherry Grant did not mince words at a recent meeting about improving DeKalb high schools. "A 'B' is a very cheap grade because of grade inflation," she said.

Teachers say the pressure to inflate grades comes from students and parents who beg for extra credit or challenge grades on assignments. But the most powerful and subtle pressure comes from the principal's office, they say. Teachers are often afraid to give students the grades they deserve, and the pressure starts long before students reach high school.

Sid Feldman, a former middle school teacher who didn't want to identify the school district where he taught, recalled: "The policy of the principal was 'failure is not an option.' " She said that meant the teachers should create a system by which the students would have the best opportunity to pass, but we all knew what she really meant."

The pressure to have a grade book filled with A's and B's exists even in elementary schools.

Jackie Henry, a DeKalb County elementary school teacher, said teachers are told they shouldn't flunk more than a few kids. If they fail too many, they fear it will reflect poorly on them. "If the children have failed, you have failed," she said. "You catch a lot of flak."

Lori Johnson, a veteran high school math teacher in DeKalb County, said she is disturbed by the disparity between average SAT scores (915 in DeKalb in 2002, well below the state average of 975) and the many A's and B's handed out (53 percent of DeKalb graduates qualified for HOPE in 2002).

Johnson said HOPE comes up frequently among students who try to talk her into raising their grades.

"I've had many students and parents tell me their child 'just has to have an A or a B.' My response to them is that they had better start doing some homework, which involves a lot of studying."

South Forsyth High School math teacher Ruth Good tells her ninth-graders at the start of the semester that they shouldn't waste their time haggling for higher grades -- there are no freebies in her classroom. "I'm not concerned with their grade, I'm concerned with what they know," she said. "I'm helping to set a standard."

Still, Good knows students and parents might challenge her on grades, so she keeps meticulous records to protect herself. South Forsyth High Principal Richard Gill said he backs his teachers, as long as they can document their grading practices and demonstrate that they are fair. "We're here to teach kids, not to inflate grades," he said.

Some teachers say they are torn over how to grade students who try hard but haven't mastered the basics needed to do the course work.

Jennifer Cuthbertson, a former Clayton County language arts teacher, said she sometimes rewarded effort over the right answer because she didn't want to discourage students who might drop out. She also wanted kids to get a chance at a HOPE scholarship, which might be their only ticket to college.

"It was hard," Cuthbertson said. "I had students who tried hard, but they just didn't have the foundation to write a good paper."