Seven Reasons forStandards-Based

GradingIf your grading system doesn't guide students

toward excellence, iVs time for something completely different

Patricia L. Scriffiny

Each week brings somenew idea that teachers aresupposed to implement,while still preparinglessons, grading papers,

and keeping iheir classrooms insome semblance of order. Amid allthese challenges, a call to changegrading poUcies can seem particu-larly unrealistic.

One grading practice that is gainingpopularity is standards-based grading,which involves measuring students'proficiency on well-defined courseobjectives (Tomlinson & McTighe,2006). Although many districts adoptstandards-based grading in addition totraditional grades, standards-basedgrading can and should replace tradi-tional point-based grades,

i My school, Montrose High School,I is located in a small but rapidlyi growing rural community in south-

70 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/OCTOBER 2008

western Colorado. We serve a community that is primarilywhite but that has a significant Latino population. Afterspending the last three years implementing standards-basedgrading in my high school math classroom, I have discoveredseven solid reasons for replacing point-based grades with astandards-based system.

Reason 1: Grades Should Have MeaningEach letter grade that a student earns at the high school levelis connected to a graduation credit, and many classes reflectonly one step in a sequence of leaming. So what does eachgrade indicate to students, parents, and teachers of latercourses in the sequence? When [ first considered this ques-tion, 1 realized I had no answers. When 1 was pressed todescribe the qualitative difference between an A, B, C, D, or F,my answers were vague. So, 1 developed a much morefocused idea of what 1 want my grades to mean;

m An A means the student has completed proficient workon all course objectives and advanced work on someiibjectives.

• AB means the student has completed proficient work onalt course objectives.

• AC means the student has completed proficient work onthe most important objectives, although not on all objectives.The student can continue to the next course.

• AD means the student has completed proficient work onat least one-half of the course objectives but is missing someimportant objectives and is at significant risk of failing thenext course in the sequence. The student should repeat thecourse if it is a prerequisite for another course.

• An F means the student has completed proficient workon fewer than one-half of the course objectives and cannotsuccessfully complete ihe next course in sequence.

Reason 2: We Need to Challenge the Status QuoMany notions I had at the beginning oi my career aboutgrading didn't stand up to real scrutiny The thorny issue ofhomework is one example of how the status quo needed tochange. 1 once thought it was essential to award points tostudents simply for completing homework. I didn't believestudents would do homework unless it was graded. And yet,in my classroom, students who were clearly learning some-

I times earned low grades because of missing work. Conversely,I some students actually learned very little but were good at£ "playing school." Despite dismal test scores, these students

earned decent grades by turning in homework and domgextra credit. They would often go on to struggle in latercourses, while their parents watched and worried.

Over the past tbree years, I have radically changed how Iformally assess homework—I don't. Of course, it is essentialfor students to do homework that is tied closely lo leamingobjectives and for students to see those connections

ASSOCIATION FÜR SDPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 71

(Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001).Systematic and extensive feedback onassignments sends students the messagethat they can and should do homeworkas practice. A typical homework assign-ment for my students consists of a smallcollection of problems, each of which islinked to a learning objective. At first, 1make those connections for mystudents, but eventually they makethem on tbeir own.

When I assign homework, 1 discusswith my students where and how itapplies to tbeir assessments. My goal isto get students to constantly ask them-selves, "Do 1 know this? Can 1 do this?"To my surprise, my homework comple-tion rates have remamed steady over thepast three years. Some students don't doall of the homework that I assign, butthey know that they are accountable formastenng the standard connected to it.

I have radicallychanged how Iformally assesshomework—I don't.

Of course, not every student who needsto practice always does so, but 1 amamazed and encouraged that studentsask me for extra practice fairly regularly

Reason 3: we can controlGrading PracticesOne of the biggest sources of frustrationin schools today is the sense that we areat the mercy of factors we teacherscannot control. We cannot controlstudent socioeconomic levels, school

FIGURE 1. Comparing Traditional and Standards-Based Grade Books

Traditional Grade Book

Name

John

Bill

Susan

Felicia

Amanda

Homework Average

90

50

110

10

95

Quiz 1

65

75

50

90

100

Chapter ITest

70

78

62

85

90

Standards-Based Grade Book

Name

John

Bill

Susan

Felicia

Amanda

Objective 1: Writean alternate endingfor a story

Partially proficient

Proficient

Partially proficient

Advanced

Partially proficient

Objective 2:Identify theelements of a story

Proficient

Proficient

Partially proficient

Proficient

Advanced

Objective 3:Compare andcontrast two stories

Partially proficient

Partially proficient

Partially proficient

Proficient

Proficient

funding, our salaries, our teachingassignments, increasing class sizes, diffi-cult parents, or a host of other impor-tant issues. However, we can controlhow we assess students.

When I approached my principal anddistrict officials with the idea of using anexperimental grading system, 1 receivedsupport and encouragement from all ofthem. In addition, a number ofcolleagues have been intrigued andwant to make standards-based gradingwork in their classrooms.

If a teacher must use a point systemto satisfy an administrative mandate orto use a particular grade book, thatteacher can still use a standards-basedsystem. The crucial idea is to use asystem that is not based on the inappro-priate use of averages. The system mustnot allow students to mask tbeir level ofunderstanding with their attendance,their level of effort, or other peripheralissues.

1 have found that avoiding pointvalues that might appear in a traditionalpercentage-based system is helpfulbecause parents and students can getconlused if they see numbers tbat looklike what they've seen in the past butrefer to a different scale. Teachers whohave to assign points can avoid thisconfusion by using completely differentnumbers. A point value in the range of1 to 10, for example, would not havethe strong associations of a point valueof 85, and thus would not be as easilymisinterpreted.

Reason 4: standards-BasedGrading Reduces MeaninglessPaperworkSince 1 adopted standards-basedgrading, my load of meaningless paper-work bas been drastically reduced,which provides time for more importantconsiderations. Slandards-based gradingenables me to gel the most from everypiece of paper students turn in.

Writing feedback only on selected

72 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP/OCTOBER 2008

homework problems saves my Limewhen marking papers while süU givingme a sense of where students are intheir learning. Tbese homework assign-ments and other formative assessmentshelp me judge the progress of the groupas a whole before deciding how toproceed.

I don't assess student mastery of anyobjective until I am confident that areasonable number of students willscore proficiently, and that makes eachassessment mean much more. Studentswho are still struggling after a significantportion of the class has demonstratedmastery can retest individually. Thebottom line is that when 1 review anyset ol papers, I walk away knouang agreat deal more about what my studentsknow than I ever did before.

Reason 5: it HelpsTeachers Adjust InstructionImagine two different grade books forthe same set of students, as shown inFigure 1. Which one of the two betterillustrates what students know and whatthey still need to leam?

The standards-based grade book givesa wealth of information to help theteacher adjust instruction. Note that twoobjectives (1 and 3) may require moreclass instruction. The notations forObjective 2, on the other hand, suggestthat the class only needs practice andone student needs some reteaching.

Students can also see much moreinformation about their learning. In thetraditional grade book, Amanda wouldassume she is in great shape, butstandards-based grading reveals that shehas not mastered a crucial concept.

Gifted and talented students can betruly challenged in a standards-basedclassroom because if they show earlymastery of fundamental skills andconcepts, they can then concentrate onmore challenging work that is at higherlevels of Blooms taxonomy or that seeksconnections among objectives.

Students who struggle can continueto retest and use alternate assessmentsuntil they show proficiency, and they arenot penalized for needing extendedtime. I guide students wilh specialneeds to modify their work and, ifneeded, develop different ways ofdemonstrating that they've met theirproficiency goals. Their working stylescan be easily accommodated in thissystem because modified assignmentsand assessments require no specialadjustments in the grade book. Thegrade book simply shows where theyare in meeting the standards, withoutreference to how they are demonstratingtheir learning or what modificationsneeded to be made.

Reason 6: it TeachesWhat Quality Looks LikeIn the iîdult world, everything is aperformance assessment. If adults onthe job make poor decisions or cannotdetermine the quality of their ownwork, the results are generally undesir-able. Quality matters, and the ability to

measure the quality of one's own v/orkis a learned skill.

So how can we teach this essentialskill? One way to teach quality is todemand it. We must create an environ-ment where standards can and must bemet and where students are notpermitted to submit substandard workwithout being asked to re\ise.

If we base our grades on standardsrather than attendance, behavior, orextra credit (which often has nothing todo with course objectives), we can actu-ally help students grapple vvith the ideaof quality and walk away with a higherdegree of self-sufficiency We can andshould report information about studentperformance in areas like attendanceand effort, but we can report it sepa-rately from academic achievement(O'Connor, 2007; Tomlinson &rMcTighe, 2006).

Reason 7: it's a Launchpadto Other ReformsWhen 1 began using standards-basedgrading, I quickly discovered that I

ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERVISION AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 73

needed lo reexamine my curriculum.Each class needed a clear and conciseset of standards with precise levels ofmastery. This prompted a number ofdiscussions with other teachers in mydepartment, and each year we continueto adapt our objectives. No one can usestandards-based grading without clearstandards.

In addition to improving curriculum,1 have found new ways to use formativeassessments and intervention strategies.My work with special educationstudents and English language learnersin particular goes much more smoothlybecause all the modification needed isalready built into what I do. I have alsobeen able to work much more effec-tively with parents by giving them betterinformation.

How do students respond to this styleof grading? Of course, their reactions

vary. It takes time, discussion, andreflection for students to understandtheir rights and responsibilities in sucha system, and teachers must be patientas students and parents adjust. Manystudents have expressed increased satis-faction with having a larger degree ofcontrol over their grades, although somestudents do not like the revisions theyare required to do. Some struggle toovercome test anxiety and need accessto alternate assessments.

As for parents, many of them simplywant opportunities for their children tosucceed, so they are grateful for the revi-sion and retesting. Each year, parentsask thoughtful questions, with somenoting that this method of grading ismore similar to evaluation in theworkplace.

These seven reasons to change tostandards-based grading are merely a

startmg point. High school teachersneed to hold their own practices up toscrutiny and decide whether those prac-tices are worth keeping. By doing so, weunleash a force for change that we cancontrol, with our students and parentsas partners. B!

ReferencesMarzano, R., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J.

(2001). Classroom instruction that worhs.Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

O'Connor, K. (2007). A repair kii for grading:¡5 fixes jor broken grades. Ponland, OR:Educaiiona! Tesiing Service.

Tomlinson, C-, & McTighe, J. (2006). Inle-grating dißerentiated instruction and under-standing by design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Patricia L. Scriffiny is a math teacher atMontrose High School in Montrose,Colorado; pscriffiny@mcsd.k12.co.us.

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