Effective Grading Practices from Educational Leadership

In the article titled: Grading Practices: Killing with Kindness the author Bryan Goodwin writes about how grades may not be what they once were.  


He wrote about how students ACT test scores rose minimally, yet their grades in math and english rose by a significant amount.  He also wrote that nearly twice as many students reported earning an A or A- average in 2006 than in 1992. (Twenge and Campbell, in press)

I struggle to believe that teachers are just giving easy A's.  I believe that student's are maybe finding more value in their classes and less value in performing well on one test.  Also, I am wondering if we are covering all of the material that is on this test during the students math and english classes?  Is this test outdated?  

Here is the link if you would like to read it yourself.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov11/vol69/num03/Grade-Inflation@-Killing-with-Kindness%C2%A2.aspx