Grading & Report Cards

The purpose of standards-based grading is to raise academic achievement by providing students with clear, specific feedback on their growth toward the mastery of content and grade-level standards. Standards-based grading provides greater clarity and insight into the areas a student needs to improve in order to master course content. Standards-based grading has also been shown to significantly boost achievement and motivation for students.  Student work habits, classroom behaviors and other activities are reported separately from academic performance.

Standards-based grading is a defined scale that communicates a student’s progress in meeting the learning goal or objectives for their grade as determined by state and district standards.

As a student learns new material, his or her command of the content may initially be limited. Students, in a standards-based grading system, will receive progress grades for formative measures. Students receive specific feedback and support to progress to the required level of proficiency for the learning goal, over time. Under this system of grading, students will ultimately be measured on their final mastery of a learning goal or objective, usually in a summative assessment, rather than on an average of all assessments. In other words, a student’s grade represents their current mastery of a concept or course and not an average of grades on assignments during the grading period.

In the past, factors like attendance, behavior, homework completion, and class preparation and participation were factored into a student’s grades. While it is important for students to receive feedback on these items, work habits are shown separately to provide a more accurate representation of academic achievement. Separating work habits from content mastery provides a clearer picture as to whether a student needs help with an academic concept, or, support with the attributes for successful learning in and beyond school.

Carmody uses a four-point scale to measure students’ progress.

The goal is for students to master the standards. Even top students can earn a 2 or “partially proficient” grade as they are first exposed to new material. However, early low scores are not averaged into the final grade. So, once a student masters the concept, the final grade will reflect his/her level of proficiency and mastery at that time in the grading process. The important thing is that students receive clear feedback on their progress to ensure they are learning and growing in their academic achievement.