Standards Based
Grading: A New
Outlook on Grading
Nutter Fort Intermediate
Third Grade Team
SBG Overview
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Traditional Grading vs.
Standard’s Based
Ms. Amber Nuzum
3rd Grade
“Why…would anyone want to
change current grading
practices?”
The answer is quite simple: grades
are so imprecise that they are
almost meaningless.”
--Robert Marzano
Traditional Grading
• Letter grades-A, B, C, D, F
• Academic achievement tainted by
non-academic factors
• Grade everything and average it
together
• Report a single grade for a class
More Traditional Grading
Problems
• Has a student who receives a “C”
based upon 100% homework
completion and 50% test average
really mastered the standards?
• How do grades affect the
motivation of students who
experience early failure and see no
way to climb out of the hole
they’re in?
“Grading as it has been done
traditionally promotes a culture of
point accumulation not learning,
encourages competition not
collaboration, often focuses on
activities not results…and only
involves assessment of learning
because everything students do gets
a score and every score ends up in
the grade book.”
---Ken O’Connor
The Grade Doctor
What is a Learning
Standard?
…an agreed upon statement of what
a student should know and be able to
do in a given content area.
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STANDARDS BASED GRADING
•
A focus on mastering content “standards” instead of
accumulating points
•
A report of what students know and are able to do
independently
•
A balance of formative and summative assessments
(mounting evidence)
•
A record keeping system that informs instruction
•
A system that encourages student reflection and
responsibility for learning
Descriptors
Mrs. Mandy Hoard
3rd Grade
Numbers and Operations
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Writing
Students may earn an “N” if they are…
--Novice-confused and lost, even after repeated
instruction, or they don’t know how to
begin, or their knowledge is so
incomplete that this often leads to
frustration when they attempt to use
the skill.
Students may earn a “PM” if they are…
--Partial Mastery--
beginners who need assistance to
perform or practice the skill or
need only occasional or minimal
assistance to successfully perform
the skill.
Students may earn a “M” if they are…
--Mastery--
consistently able to perform the skill
without assistance in order to
achieve a goal.
Students may earn a “AM” if they are…
--Above Mastery--
consistently performing the skill and
do it with exceptional ease, no
matter what the level of difficulty.
Students may earn a “D” if they are…
--Distinguished--
consistently using higher level
thinking skills, such as analysis,
synthesis, and integration in order
to apply the skill to an unfamiliar
situation or in novel ways.
Student Work
Common Assessments
Mrs. Cheryl Bramble
3rd Grade
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Student Interview
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Informing Parents
Report Cards
Ms. Danyelle Leadman
3rd Grade
Informing Parents &
Students
• Parent Nights: First week of school
(both years), after first report card (first
year), 1st Quarter Parent-Teacher
Conferences (both years)
• Parent-Informational Sheet, both years
• Descriptor Analogy Poster in every
classroom
• Parent Survey
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Report Card
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Report Card
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Report Card
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Final Thoughts