September 4, 2014
Dear Parent/Guardian:
This marks my 12th year as an educator. Over the years I have seen grades motivate a small percentage of students to
work harder in order to improve their current grade. More commonly however, I have seen students’ confidence in
themselves and their abilities fade as a result of even one poor quiz/test grade. The current system of grading
punishes students for an inability to understand concepts on the first attempt. Poor grades accumulate, and students
find themselves in a hole too deep to dig themselves out of.
Additionally, when parents and students look at Infinite Campus’ Grade-book, and see scores, what do these scores
say about the students’ understanding? When a student scores 82%, what concepts have been mastered, and what
concepts still need attention? After attending several workshops and doing research in my Masters’ program, I found
myself thinking “there has to be a better way”.
Enter standards based assessment. This is a different method for reporting your child’s progress than the traditional
point based systems. Standards based assessment is grounded in current research and is considered best practice for
assessing in the field of education. This letter has been written to help explain what standards based grading is and
why I am using this system. Please read through this and feel free to ask me if you have any questions!
Sincerely,
Tesa Edwards
HPHS Mathematics
tedwards@dist113.org
What is standards based assessment?
Standards based assessment holds each student up against consistent skill standards. The benchmarks (or goals) for
each standard and how these standards will be measured (scoring guides) will be provided to the student, and it is the
goal that every student will demonstrate proficiency at each standard by the completion of the course. The level of
proficiency achieved by a student for each standard will be expressed by a number ranging from 0 to 4 for each
criteria, rather than a letter grade or a percentage. At the end of the quarter, these 0-4 scores for each criteria will be
translated into a letter grade. This conversion is outlined on the next page.
Why use a standards based assessment system?
According to current research, students achieve better success when they are given multiple opportunities to improve
without having scores averaged over time. By making expectations clear and then giving continual achievements,
students can take risks with their learning to demonstrate higher learning with each particular skill or standard.
Standards based assessment shifts the focus from point acquisition to true learning. Standards based assessment also
empowers students to take control of their own learning. They are aware of what they need to know or be able to do
at the start of all assignments and they can practice accordingly to reach the highest level of progress as dictated by
the scoring guide by the time they are assessed at the end of a semester. It also directly ties each class and assignment
to a standard so that the students know the purpose and goal of each lesson. This system is about creating a process
for student learning, not an atmosphere for accumulating points. It helps the student identify for themselves what
quality, accuracy, and proficiency looks like so that they are empowered to take control of their own learning. This
system also makes it very clear as to what content and skill standards a student is proficient with and which areas
need more work.
How will students demonstrate that a standard has been met?
Students will be given a variety of opportunities and experiences to demonstrate that they are proficient with the
standards. These opportunities could take the form of exams or projects or even just daily discussions and
assignments, among others. The goal is give students opportunities to practice, make mistakes, learn, and grow with
the material through self, peer, and teacher feedback.
What happens if a student does not demonstrate proficiency on an assessment?
Standards based assessment is all about where kids are at the end of a marking period. One of the huge benefits to
standards based assessment is that students are not penalized in the long term for not understanding, in other words,
they do not accumulate poor scores. Each assessment is a fresh opportunity to demonstrate what level their learning
has reached. If a student does not demonstrate proficiency with a particular standard on one assignment, they will
have many opportunities to do so in the future, and it is only where they are at the end of a semester that is reported.
The important piece is for students to understand why they are not proficient and what it will take to get there.
What are the major differences between traditional grading and standards based grading?
The first big difference is how grades are reported. Students and parents need to retrain their thinking to see a 2 out
of 4, not a 50%. It is the level of proficiency in each standard that is being reported, not a percentage. Second, as
standards based grading deals primarily with content and skill standards, it does not report behavior a measure of
achievement. This means that rude, or tardy students or students who do not complete homework will not be
penalized as long as they can still meet the standard. I will still be addressing these issues with students and parents,
but behavior will be dealt with separately from grades. It should be noted, however, that there is a strong correlation
between good attendance, behavior, and study habits, and reaching proficiency with the material. Third, this system
seeks to see where the student’s proficiency level is at the end of a unit. It also seeks to make all work meaningful.
To this end, the only scores that will factor in to the reported grade are the criteria scores. The only way to improve
grades is to truly reach the next level of proficiency, not simply by turning in more work at the same level of
proficiency.
What about enrichment (extra credit)?
There is no enrichment with a standards based system. This grading system is centered in the idea that student scores
are reported based on how well they have met a standard and enrichment is not indicative of this. Students who are
confident that they can achieve above the reported proficiency level are encouraged to do additional work that
demonstrates this ability, but they must do so consistently at the appropriate level to earn a new score.
How is the grade determined?
Students will continue to have scale scores translated to a final letter grade on the progress report and report card.
However this final grade for a standard may not necessarily be the product of averaging. Recognizing that students
learn during the instructional process, the grade for a unit of study will be focused on what a student knows at the
end of the unit. I will provide feedback to students and opportunities to redo and relearn information and skills. Final
grades will be determined based on the learning trend scores which indicate the most recent evidence of student
learning. These scores will be converted to the following grading scale.
SBG
Corresponding Minimum
Average Letter Grade Percentage
4.0
A
92
3.7
A85
3.3
B+
78
3.0
B
75
2.8
B69
2.5
C+
63
SBG
Corresponding Minimum
Average Letter Grade Percentage
2.3
C
56
2.0
C50
1.6
D+
40
1.3
D
33
1.0
D25
<1.0
F
0