IRC School based and district administrators
narrowed the focus to the following
five areas:
 Focus
1: Achievement
 Focus
2: Zeros
 Focus
3: Clear Expectations
 Focus
4: Mastery of Standards
 Focus
5: Cheating
Focus #2 Summary of Input
Consensus

Students should be encouraged and held
accountable to complete work.

A 0-5 point or 0-50 point scale system option
appeared to solve many issues with the use
of zeros.

Representatives of the grading practices
committee have requested to meet with
the school board members for a round
table discussion to present/defend the final
proposal submitted by this committee.
Focus #2 Summary of Input
(Cont’d)
Concerns

Retakes/Make up work equals time constraints

Consistency with college transition

Attendance issues and resulting zeros

Students receive chance after chance

Is “giving” 50% ethical?

Will this be a blanket policy for all grade levels &
subject areas?

Is this just a current fad?
Why Do We Need to Change?
The world is changing and the way
teachers teach has changed.
A new way of teaching requires
a new way of reporting student achievement.
Why Do We Need To Change?
• To identify the specific benchmarks each
student is responsible for learning (benchmarks
tested on FCAT)
• To provide information on how well each
student is learning these specific benchmarks
Present Paradigm
Traditionally, report cards give a
grade for a general subject which
often includes subjective and
behavioral factors that vary greatly
from teacher to teacher.
Paradigm Shift
Reported grades should identify mastery
level of academic standards
Expectations based on Next
Generation of Sunshine State Standards
(NG SSS)
Clearly Defined and Subject Specific
Communicated to School Community
Grading Must be Based Upon
Individual Student’s Mastery Level of
Next Generation Sunshine State
Standards (NG SSS)
Criterion Referenced rather than
Norm Referenced
IS . . .
Standards-Based Grading
Clear and Consistent Assessments
Based upon Mastery of Individual
Standards.
IS NOT . . .
Growth and Progress based Upon
Effort, Behavior and/or Attitude
What is a
Standards-Based Reporting System?
It is a reporting system
that communicates
individual student progress
toward meeting state standards.
It does NOT
compare one student with another.
Scuba School
120
100
score
80
student #1
60
student #2
student #3
40
20
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
assessments
7
8
9
10
—Line—
of Mastery
What have we learned about
Standards-Based Assessment?
 Brings
much needed focus to curriculum
development efforts
 Provides the impetus for new forms of student
assessments
 Reduces meaningless paperwork & grading
 Needs to strike a healthy balance between a
single assessment path and a plethora of choices
 Provides specific feedback on needed
improvement
 It doesn’t allow students to mask their level of
understanding with work habits.
What Next?
 Read
“Helping Standards Make the GRADE”
by Thomas R. Gruskey
 Answer
the questionnaire
 Send
your questionnaire as an attachment
via email to Amy Falvey.
 Please
give your input about the different
focuses through our Grading Policy Forum.