However, it is also true, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, that test score gaps between 12th-grade blacks and whites with highly educated parents -- parents with 16 or more years of schooling -- are greater than test score gaps between 12th-grade blacks and whites whose parents have less education.

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Each GCSE-level qualification and grade is given a score in points, enabling an average point score per pupil to be calculated for each school.

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Ofqual's research found many schools used the marks pupils received in their first exams and the January grade boundaries to work out what score a pupil would need in their controlled assessment to get a certain grade and marked it accordingly.

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For example, in 2009, speculative grade companies won by a score of 77.28% to 31.95%.

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In eighth grade, the national reading score hasn't budged since 2002, but students in Atlanta, Houston and Los Angeles posted gains, while the other cities remained steady.

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In fact, a recent survey found that 42 percent of Americans would prefer a letter grade associated with a credit score rather than the traditional three-digit number.

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Last year, my organization, The Leapfrog Group, initiated one such effort, the Hospital Safety Score, a letter grade rating the safety of 2600 hospitals, which Dr. Jha advises us on.

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The 52-year-old Mr. Corbat is hoping to instill the right incentives through the use of score cards that will grade the 50 or so top executives based on a set of weighted goals from five categories: capital, clients, costs, culture and controls.

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The sport's overall score of 92.5 points equaled its top mark in 2010, and racial hiring received an A grade for the fifth straight year.

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