Research on Standards Based Grading

Where's the research? 

Hey there! So, I wanted to post some information of where you could find some more research on standards based grading. This research has been influential on the decisions that my SBG PLC has made in the two years that we have been implementing this grading system.

Rick Wormeli, author of "Fair Isn't Always Equal": 

"Fair Isn't Always Equal" by Rick Wormeli

Zeros On the Hundred Point Scale

Defining Mastery

Re-dos, Retakes, & Reassessments Part One

Re-dos, Retakes, & Reassessments Part Two

Robert J. Marzano, author of "Formative Assessment & Standards Based Grading": 

"Formative Assessment & Standards Based Grading" by Robert J. Marzano

Solution Tree: Marzano Explores Problems with Time Based Systems

Mastery vs. Learning

What Does the Research Say?

There are many authors and educational professionals out there that are using this system and advocate its use. I would also recommend doing personal research through blogs, Pinterest, and other school districts that have implemented this grading system school wide. 

What is SBG?

So, what exactly is standards based grading? 

Standards Based Grading (SBG) is a grading method that measures a student's progress by their mastery of the content or skill. Any skill or learning objective that a student has not mastered can be reassessed during learning center or a scheduled tutoring time. Reassessments allow for the student to try again to demonstrate their understanding.

There are three principles that my professional learning community has established through our implementation: 

• Grades should have meaning
• Students should be given multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning based on feedback
• Non-academic behaviors should not be included in academic grades

What does SBG look like?

Align Content with State Standards

Conveniently, you already do this! We are required to teach specific state standards to students and align our lessons with them. You already teach the material - just need to determine what standard aligns with your assignments and assessments to measure your students' mastery levels.

Standards are Built into Classroom Culture

Students write down their mastery levels of each of the standards on a tracking sheet. This is NOT a requirement for SBG but does make implementation easier.

Assessments are Written Based on Standards

Pick the standards that you want to assess and ask a few question per standard. You should provide a rubric or another method of communication what mastery look like for that specific standard. Try to give a good mix of formative and summative assessments - formative assessments allow for teachers to give specific feedback that will help that student show mastery.

Grades are Tracked By Standard 

Each standard receives a grade and has feedback for how to achieve mastery if the student did not. This is where data trackers would be incredibly helpful (but again, not required). They help your students visualize and track their progress. Depending on the what reporting system you are using, the reporting of grades can vary greatly. 

  

In my PLC, we have decided to report grades to students and parents using this scale:

Numeric Score	What does that mean?
3	MASTERY Student has met or exceeded the expectation for skill and can tutor or assist others.
2	ROUGH MASTERY: student has met the expectation for skill, but can only do so with assistance from other students, teacher, or supplementary materials.
1	NOT YET Student has not provided any evidence that he or she understands the skill. They can and need to reassess the assignment or skill for a higher grade.

We use PowerTeacherPro in my district and this is what a student's view looks like: 

If you are interested in implementing this grading system or have any questions, please send me an email through the site!

Introductory Post

Hey, everyone!

My name is Destiny Clarke and I am currently a high school English teacher in Alamance county, North Carolina. This is my third full year of teaching, and I love it! I have been implementing standards based grading (SBG) in my classroom for about two (2) years with a hybrid semester in the beginning and many changes since then!

If you are unfamiliar with what Standards Based Grading is, you can check out my post HERE.

Basically, this is how it goes (I actually have this flowchart set up in my classroom as well):

Image from Cashmere School District

I am currently working in a PLC (Professional Learning Community for those of you who are unfamiliar with the thousands of acronyms in the field of Education) with three (3) other colleagues, one of which, I created the PLC with. We meet at least once a month to discuss our grade output technology, which is PowerTeacherPro, assessment ideas, implementation ideas, etc. There are currently two (2) ELA teachers, including myself, one (1) Chemistry teacher (who I started the PLC with), and a Social Studies teacher.

We all have different ways of implementing the system into our pedagogy and classrooms, but come together and agree on modes of assessment. There are tons of ways to implement standards based grading into your classroom, but it all comes down to assessing students on their knowledge of your state standards for your content area.

This blog will document my current implementation, resources, and information about standards based grading, in general. There will also be some lifestyle posts about teaching, technology in the classroom, and reflection.

I am excited to start this journey! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.