Standards-based grading—and what it means for you!

1. Standards-based grading—and what it means for you!

2. What is standard-based grading, anyways? • Standards-based grading (SBG) looks at individual skills (standards) within an assignment instead of the overall assignment grade (holistic grading).

3. SBG vs. Holistic Grading Example • For example, let’s say you write an essay about Katniss as a hero in The Hunger Games. What different skills and knowledge would you use in the essay? • Spelling/grammar/punctuation • Determine central themes or ideas • Understand what you’re reading • Find details in the text to support your ideas • Brainstorm, write a rough draft, revise and write a final copy • Write for the correct audience • Write in a specific style (essay)

4. Holistic Grading • With holistic grading, you would get one score for your essay, a percentage, 0-100% • Let’s say you get an 82%, a B. What does that score tell us? ?

5. Standards-based grading lets us see exactly what you did well on—and what we need to keep working on.

6. Mastered the reading skills (can understand and discuss what you’ve read) Struggled with writing the essay.

7. What does this mean for my grade?

8. IMPORTANT • You must meet ALL standards at 2.0 AND complete all summatives. Otherwise, your overall grade will show as an “F,” like this:

9. But what if I don’t meet standards the first time? • That’s okay! Standards-based grading is all about having multiple opportunities to prove you know how to meet a standard. • Let’s look at a real example from the gradebook:

10. Look at the progress made on standards R2 and R3:

11. So what’s the final grade for R2 & R3?

12. If you practice hard and get better, why should your hard work count against you? • Standards-based grading averages your scores on each standard to determine your grade.

13. So how do I read my online grades? • There are three separate sections in your online grade report: • Overall Grade • Standard Breakdown • Assignments

14. Overall Grades Overall progress on each area, or “domain” Your letter grade

15. A breakdown of each standard within the category:

16. The standards met in each assignment:

17. Other gradebook scores:

18. Does this count for a grade?

19. Why don’t formatives count? • We believe that you shouldn’t be penalized for learning. • If you get a 1 the first time you practice a skill and a 4 on the summative, you have obviously learned how to do the skill. Why should the 1 of your first practice count against you? • Formatives are a chance to practice, get feedback, and improve your skills. • Formatives show us your progress toward meeting standard on the summative. • They do not affect your grade, but they are NOT optional. • Formatives help you prepare for the summative and summatives DO affect your grade.

20. If I have multiple chances to meet standard then deadlines don’t matter, right? • WRONG! SBG allows you to learn at your own pace, but this means that you, the learner, are accountable for turning work in so that you can get feedback and have the preparation needed to move on to the next skill.

21. What happens if I miss a deadline? • After the deadline several things may happen: • You will be sent to Freshman/Sophomore Success • You may be given a NEW assignment to meet the same standards. That means any work you put toward the 1st summative won’t count and you’ll start all over. • Why? • Assignments build on one another. The skills learned in this assignment will be needed to complete future assignments. • The assignment was to be presented to your peers to provide knowledge to them. • The value of the assignment was in meeting a deadline in a timely manner (such as a timed write).

22. Why do I have to put my last name on everything? I’m the only Bob/Sue/Jim in this class! It’s faster for me when entering grades. Happy teacher = happy students. I see only last names and first initials in the grade book. First names don’t help me at all!