Standards-based Grading
Dr. Megan Welsh
Neag School of Education
Connecticut Assessment Forum
8/13/12
The study
• Data from one suburban school district located in
the Southwest (13 elementary schools)
• Focused on third and fifth grade (~4000 students
over two years)
• Data collected included standards-based grades
and state test scores, in two years, and interviews
of approximately 40 teachers. Interviews focused
largely on mathematics instruction and grading
Goals Today
Discuss the promise and potential pitfalls
of standards-based grading, drawing
context from a study conducted in one
district.
Why grade?
1. To communicate
with
parents
about
student
Giving feedback:
achievement
1.
Ask clarifying questions
Therefore,
grading
is
all
about
values
2.
State
what
you
value
2. To provide information to students about
Feedback
performance
3. their
Discuss
how the performance/ behavior at hand
is consistent or inconsistent with your values
3. To track student progress over time
What are your values?
Do you believe….
Grades should reflect achievement of intended
learning outcomes—whether the school is using
a conventional, subject-based report card or a
report card that represents these intended
learning outcomes as standards.
What are your values?
Do you believe….
The primary audiences for the message
conveyed in grades are students and their
parents; grading policies should aim to give
them useful, timely, actionable information.
Teachers, administrators, and other educators
are secondary audiences.
What are your values?
Do you believe….
Grades should reflect a particular student’s
individual achievement. Group and cooperative
skills are important, but they should be
reflected elsewhere, not in an individual’s
academic grade.
What are your values?
Do you believe….
Grading policies should be set up to support
student motivation to learn. A student should
never reach a place where there is no point
doing any more work because failure is
inevitable.
The promise….
Standards-based grading is intended to support
these values, while also…
1. Improving alignment of curriculum and
standards
2. Improving communication with parents
3. Generating scores that can be directly
compared with state tests
What is standards-based grading?
Report cards that…
• Grade students according to performance level
descriptors, usually in line with the state test
(Advanced, Goal, Proficient, etc.)
• Grade according to specific strands or objectives
found in state standards documents (or the Common
Core State Standards)
Tend to be more widespread at the elementary level
due to the specificity of objectives
Standards-based report cards,
some examples
Some considerations in adopting a
standards-based report card
1. How to get buy in from teachers, principals
and parents?
2. What professional development is needed?
3. How to monitor implementation of the new
approach?
Some considerations in developing a
standards-based report card
1. What grading scale to use?
2. Whether to grade on objectives, strands, or
content areas?
3. Which objectives/strands/content areas to
select?
4. Whether (and how) to adapt forms or
grading policies for English language learners
and students with disabilities?
What grading scale to use?
If you want to be able to compare report card grades to
state test scores, then you should use the state test
performance levels.
This is easier said than done…. Each teacher is likely to
interpret the performance levels differently.
Year 1
No guidance on how to operationalize
each performance level.
Year 2
90 and above=“Exceeds,”
“80 and above=“Meets,” etc.
Performance
Level
Geometry and Measurement Descriptors (Grade 3)
But what does it really mean
Below Basic
Limited ability to…
to
“Meet”
thetimestandard?
1. Solve
problems involving
You can
2.Estimate lengths and areas
3. Measure lengths and identify appropriate measurement units
a given situation
getforguidance
from the state….
4.Identify, classify and draw 2-dimensional shapes
Basic
1. Adequately solve problems involving time
2. Marginally estimate lengths and areas
http://www.csde.state.ct.us/public/cedar/assessment/
3. Marginally measure lengths and identify appropriate
cmt/cmt_gen4_resources.htm
measurement units for a given situation
4. Competently identify, classify and draw 2-dimensional shapes
Proficient
1. Competently solve problems involving time
2. Marginally estimate lengths and areas
3. Marginally measure lengths and identify appropriate
measurement units for a given situation
4. Competently identify, classify and draw 2-dimensional shapes
Whether to grade on objectives,
strands, or content areas?
Who is the primary audience?
Teachers if grading on specific objectives, they must
teach and assess those objectives
Parents
how much information can they
reasonably digest?
Which objectives/strands/content
areas to select?
What is MOST important?
1. Endurance: Skills that will stay with students for a
long time
2. Leverage: Skills that are applicable to many
academic disciplines (e.g., nonfiction writing,
reading tables and charts)
3. Readiness for the next level of instruction: Skills that
students must have for success in the next
grade/course
Adaptations for English language learners
and students with disabilities?
1. Ask whether the standard is an appropriate
expectation without adaptations.
2. If the standard is not appropriate, determine
what type of adaptation the standard needs.
3. If the standard needs modification, determine
the appropriate standard.
4. Base grades on the modified standard, not the
grade-level standard.
5. Communicate the meaning of the grade.
Some considerations in generating a
standards-based grade
Organizing for grading….
1. Grade book: specify the skills associated with each score
2. What kinds of scores to record in the grade book and
how will they be converted to performance levels?
3. Assessments: can focus on one skill at a time, or
encompass multiple skills.
If multiple skills are assessed, teachers must generate
skill-specific scores
Some considerations in generating a
standards-based grade
Decide what kinds of achievement grades reflect
Product: what students know and are able to do
at a particular point in time
Process: students' behaviors in reaching their
current level of achievement and proficiency
Progress: how much students improve or gain
from their learning experiences
Product
Grades reflect student achievement at one point in time.
Some decisions:
- Should grades reflect performance in relation to
end of year expectations, or in relation to
expectations at the time the grade is recorded?
- When a unit is completed and skill assessed in
September, should the end-of-year grade be based
on September performance or be reassessed?
Process
Grades reflect student work habits.
Some decisions:
- How to incorporate incomplete work in grades?
- How to incorporate homework in grades?
- What to do if a student works very diligently,
but does not perform well.
Progress
Grades reflect amount of improvement made over the
school year.
Student
9/1
9/8
9/15
9/22
9/29
10/6
10/13
Wayne, Bruce
70
73
75
78
85
90
90
95
82
Prince, Diana
81
81
83
81
83
83
82
82
82
Kyle, Selina
95
90
90
85
78
75
73
70
82
10/20 Mean
From design considerations….
To evaluation of one approach
The study
Gathered data in one district, which experienced a headline
similar to the one shown previously. The study:
1. Evaluated the degree of consistency between grades and test
scores
2. Identified grading practices that yielded greater consistency
3. Determined how much of the difference between grades and
test scores could be attributed to subject, teacher, and year
4. Asked teachers about their experiences with the method
District grading policy
In its 3rd year of standards-based grading during interviews
Year 1
Reported by strand or objective,
depending on grade level
Years 2/3
Reported by strand and content area,
with strands graded on a -. √, + basis
Asked teachers to take students’
Asked teachers to grade based on
“pattern of progress” into consideration achievement level at the end of the
in generating grades
marking period
Required teachers to decide for
themselves how to operationalize each
performance level
Extensive professional development on
grading, including the importance of
grading effort separately
Required teachers to convert percent
correct to performance levels (>89%=A)
Limited professional development, some
to address changes to reporting system.
Many teachers seemed unaware of
changes in policy.
The Study
1. Evaluated the degree of consistency between
grades and test scores
State test
Three ways toFalls
think
about
consistency:
Far Below
Approaches
Meets
Falls Far Below
Johnny
Sally
Bruce
Craig
James
Kate
Janice
Jessica
Darren
Exceeds
1. Do grades and test scores match exactly.
Approaches
Grades
Kevin
2. Is the list of students rank-ordered Mia
by grade
Meets
Glen
Huihui
Tess
Becky
similar to the list rank-ordered by Hunter
test score?
Will
Holly
Dan
Phoebe
Ruth
Wayne
Lesley
Victoria
3. How large is the difference between grades
and test scores?
Exceeds
The Study
1. Evaluated the degree of consistency between
grades and test scores
Writing
Mathematics
Reading
The Study
2. Identified grading practices that predict consistency
Grading practice
The extent to which the teacher….
Performance-focused
Graded on attainment of standards instead of effort
Overall achievement
Focused on overall achievement rather than student progress
Frequently assessed
Regularly collected assessment data for grading purposes
Multiple approaches
Used assessments that encompass different aspects of a skill
Linked assessments to
objectives
Identified the performance objectives addressed on assessments
and maintained objective-based records
Clear grading method
Could explain a method of converting assessment scores to grades
Created assessments
Created their own assessments linked to the academic standards.
Assessed most objectives
Made an effort to assess most objectives in the state standards
Standards-focused
Focused on assessing standards more than curriculum attainment
The Study
2. Identified grading practices that predict consistency
We found
no relationship
between grading
- -Teachers
who adopted
standards-based
gradingpractices
practices
andto
consistency
rank-order
tended
assign theof
exact
same performance level as the
state test
We found
no relationship
between grading
- -Teachers
who adopted
standards-based
gradingpractices
practices
andto
grading
reading
tended
grade rigor
lowerinthan
the test in mathematics and
higher than the test in writing
However, these relationships are weak to moderate
The Study
3. Sources of variation in convergence rates
Test –Exact
Rank-order
gradematch
difference
The Study
4. Teacher experiences with standards-based
grades
Many teachers faithfully implemented
standards-based grading and were supportive
However, a few concerns arose……
Concern #1
Lack of alignment between the curriculum and
the standards
- All 3rd grade teachers reported that the mathematics
text was not aligned with state standards
- The district put considerable pressure on teachers to
follow the text without supplementing it
Standardsbased grading
District-adopted
curriculum
Concern #2
Interpretability
WA districts address common concern
with standards-based grading
Teachers and parents initially found the system
confusing. This made the newspapers.
Concern #3
Solve word problems
Feasibility
9/1 Quiz
9/1 Quiz
Organizing
for grading
was tough.
Sally 8/10 GM1. length/area 9/10 GM2. time
Joe
9/10 GM1. length/area 8/10 GM2. time
Stacy 10/10 GM1. length/area 10/10 GM2. time
Jim
7/10 GM1. length/area 7/10 GM2. time
OR
9/1 Quiz
7/10
8/10
9/10
9/10
GM3. measuring
GM3. measuring
GM3. measuring
GM3. measuring
Write numbers as words
9/1 Quiz GM1 9/1 Quiz GM2 9/1 Quiz GM3
Sally
8/10
9/10
7/10
Joe
9/10
8/10
8/10
Stacy
10/10
10/10
9/10
Jim
7/10
7/10
9/10
Concern #4
Changing messages/expectations as the report
card format changed
Recommendations
1. Design a grading system consistent with your district’s
values…
-What skills to include?
-What grading scale to use?
-Usefulness as a communication tool with whom?
-Whether to grade on process, progress, or product?
-How to communicate about student behaviors?
-How to grade students with special needs?
Recommendations
2. Communicate about those values
-With district employees
-With the community
-With parents
3. Use those values as context for why you are adopting
standards-based grades
Recommendations
4. Develop a report card form and a grading policy, with
input from teachers, administrators, parents, and
community members
5. Pilot the report card in a small number of schools and
gather feedback from teachers, parents and students
about it
6. List to the feedback. Use it to revise the grading
policies/report card format
Recommendations
7. Market the final version of the report card to parents,
community members, and district employees.
Communicate the reason for adopting the new grading
system, again couched in district values
8. Train educators how to use the report card:
•
•
•
•
organizing for grading
grading method (process, product, progress)
operationalizing the report card scale (e.g., What does
“Goal” look like)?
grading students with special needs
Recommendations
9. Train them again…. Train them every year……
10. Evaluate the grading system. Share results with
teachers, parents, community members and
administrators.
11. Explain how you (and they) should use the results to
make changes
Thank you!
Do you have any questions or comments?
Dr. Megan Welsh
Neag School of Education
Department of Educational Psychology
249 Glenbrook Rd. Unit 2064
Storrs, CT 06269
(860) 486-6125
megan.welsh@uconn.edu
Some good references