Frequently Asked Questions

Traditional grading averages a student’s achievement data with other criteria, such as work habits. Standards-Based Grading removes extraneous factors and focuses solely on a student’s academic achievement and continued mounting evidence that indicates a true assessment of the student’s present attainment of learning. Other characteristics are reported separately.

The student’s grade more accurately represents the progress toward proficiency of standards than traditional grading does. Subject areas are subdivided into big ideas related to standards and their respective learning outcomes that students need to learn or master. Each target is assessed. Scores from activities that are provided solely for practice will not be included in the final assessment of the learning outcome. The influence of positive and consistent work habits on student learning is reported separately from the academics.

Because the purpose of standards-based grading is to report what students know and are able to do, averaging does not represent an accurate picture of where a student is in his/her learning. A student who struggles in a class at the beginning of a grading period and receives poor grades, but who keeps working and by the end of the grading period can clearly demonstrate competence in the subject, should receive a grade that reflects that competence. The average is a fixture in most grading systems, but the average does not always represent the data accurately. Consider two students, Stewart and Maria. Stewart earns the following scores: 85, 85, 85, 85, 85, 85, 85, 85 and 85. The average is not difficult to calculate, and Stewart’s grade is posted as a B.  Maria struggles in math and turns in this performance: 50, 60, 65, 70, 80, 85, 90, 90, and 90. Her mean score of a little over 75 would result in a C on her report card, but it is obvious that Maria now understands the math even though she struggled in the beginning.

The district standards were synthesized into major learning goals (Gradebook Reporting Criteria, or GRCs) to provide clear and concise information to parents regarding student progress. Teachers collect evidence of student understanding through observations, class work, projects, and test data then evaluate overall performance using the following scale:  4 – 3 – 2 – 1.

No. While it may feel as though standards-based grading performance scale scores are easy to translate to the traditional A, B, C, D, F, it is actually quite difficult, and should be avoided in Standards-Based Grading.  Think of the two grading methods as totally different languages.  For example, Mandarin Chinese has words and phrases that cannot be translated accurately into English because no English equivalent exists.  It is like that with Standards-Based Grading.  In Standards-Based Grading, a 1 is a very narrow range which communicates that the student has made little or no progress toward the standard.  A 2 tends to have a larger range because it includes student performance that ranges from just a little closer to the standard than a 1, to just a little short of meeting the standard of a 3. A 3 indicates that the student has met the standard, and is right where we expect the student to be.  A 4 is quite narrow because it indicates that not only has the student met the standard, but has also taken the skills and concepts and transferred them with greater complexity and depth into other areas and disciplines. In traditional grading, letter grades report the number of points earned in a subject, and doesn’t report very much about what the student has learned.

Standards-based grading principles and tenets are equally as applicable and appropriate for students with disabilities as they are for their typical peers.  IEP teams, inclusive of general educators, should determine what, if any, adaptations are needed for students to master grade-level expectations.  Some students on an IEP have accommodations that support them with making progress to grade-level standards.  These students will be instructed with these accommodations and then graded on the GRCs as written in the GRC rubrics. Other students may have modified grade-level expectations (standards) written into their IEP.  If a student has a modified grade-level expectation as part of his or her IEP, the GRC that represents the modified standard should be noted on any report card or progress report and parents should be aware that their student is working toward a modified standard.