Standards Based Grading

As we continue to grow as learners and educators, we are beginning to utilize a new system that will help us identify student strengths as well as needs, and more importantly help in creating goals and expectations for each of our learners. Grading students against performance goals will allow us to see whether a student is mastering a standard over time, rather than during a glimpse of their learning experience. Through this shift, feedback will be given along the way based on their achievement toward a set standards. Assignments will be scored using Below Standard, Working Toward a Standard, Meeting Most of a Standard, or Mastering a Standard. As a student works along the continuum, it is possible that they might get all the questions on an assignment correct but still receive a score of Working Toward or Meeting Most. This is for two reasons, first, many standards cover skills that cannot be assessed on a single assignment. “Multiplication and Division of numbers to 100” is an example of a standard that cannot be assessed at one time. Second, in order to master a standard, a student will need to demonstrate they can satisfactorily complete the task multiple times. A single test will no longer demonstrate whether a student understands material, the ability or lack of ability to reproduce similar results will help as we work with each student to reach their goals.