Standards Based Grading: FAQ

Our first collaboration regarding standards based grading brought about lots of great questions.  This week's CIA Matters will focus on sharing those questions, providing additional information, and opening up a forum for discussion.  Please share any thoughts or ideas for discussion by replying to the post.

How is SBG different than what we're currently doing?

Traditionally, student performance for a quarter was based on averaging scores from the entire quarter.  Early scores could be averaged together with later-quarter performance in which a student demonstrated proficient performance.  Typically, student work habits affected the overall grade such as incomplete or missing homework or participation points being averaged into the overall grade.

Standards based grading communicates how a student is doing on a set of performance goals.  It takes into consideration consistent performance as well as the most recent data collected and separates behavior and work habits.

Traditional Grading	Standards-Based Grading
Connected to assessment methods	Directly connected to standards
Norm-referenced	Criterion-referenced
Achievement, effort, attitude, and behavior all factors	Achievement is the only factor
Every grade recorded with minimal support for re-assessment	Most recent assessment information used
Averaging all grades	Various forms of data collected
Variations of assessment quality	Quality assessments aligned to standards
Teacher-only involvement in grading assessment	Involvement of student in assessment

How will SBG be communicated with parents?

In May, the Elementary Education Office will share SBG with parents using a Quick News update, release a parent brochure, and post a FAQ page on the district website.

During your Parent Orientation in August, you will share an informational video from Dr. Kopp with parents.  If there are any questions following the video, refer them to your building principal.

How will this affect SPED students?

The SPED referral process will not change.  If a student is in the regular classroom and they are consistently receiving "1s", the student will be referred to Care Team.  The regular classroom teacher should have documentation such as Acuity, unit test scores, DRAs, SRI scores, writing inventories, and work samples to share with the Care Team, which is the same protocol from previous years.

Students who are currently in SPED will continue to work on IEP goals just as they have in the past.  If a student is in the SPED room for an entire subject, the SPED teacher will assess and report student progress through progress goals.  However, if a student is not in the SPED room for the entire subject, the SPED teacher and regular education teacher will collaborate and report student progress in Power School.

If a student is more than one grade below grade level, the student will receive a "1" on the standard and in the comments section of the report card, it can be stated that the student is working toward grade level standards.  If a student is able to complete grade level work with some assistance from the SPED or regular education teacher, the score would be a "2".  If the student is able to complete the work independently or with little support from the educator, the score would be "3".

Why aren't all of the standards listed on the grade card?

The purpose of the standards based report card is to communicate with parents and students about the progress of the student.  Teachers collect evidence on specific grade-level standards and use that evidence to make a decision about a grade to report.  Although the teacher is collecting evidence on the standards, reporting every single standard at each grade level would most likely be overwhelming to parents and teachers.  For example, in third grade, there are over 40 standards in ELA alone.  Many of the standards are not taught in isolation, so listing them separately is not necessary.

How will Power School accommodate SBG?

Power Teacher in Power School has the capability to be used in conjunction with standards based grading.  In fact, Power Teacher is endorsed by leading researcher Ken O'Connor.  His favorite aspect of Power Teacher is the ability for teachers to see several measures of central tendency.



However, if you choose to keep track of your data using another method, you can simply enter scores in Power School for the report card at the end of the quarter.

One positive change from Power School includes the ability for teachers to see the comments that have been typed out before they are printed. :)

How will we keep track of the data collected?

There are various ways to keep track of the data you collect on your students.  Teachers who have experience using SBG have used Power School, Excel spreadsheets, and even paper grade books.  Deciding how to keep track of the data will be a personal preference for the teacher.  The most important decision will be what evidence you keep to show student growth and mastery.  Many teachers choose to keep unit tests and performance events until the end of the quarter for this purpose.