Tag Archives: standards based grading

#21CLHK: Turning Standards-Based Philosophy into Practice

From my presentation at 21CLHK, take home these resources to help you operationalize standards-based grading:

  1. Presentation
  2. “Quiz” to help you create your own policy
  3. Steps for setting up the free teacher edition of JumpRope
  4. Exemplars:
    1. Gradebook feature evaluation checklist
    2. Grading policy
    3. Report cards

Want more? Participate in #sblchat, join the SBG facebook group, go to Guskey’s workshop at The Level 5,and visit Matt Townsley’s website.

Converting Standards-based Scores to Final Course Grades and GPA

You’ll have to jump through some hoops and play the game of school to get standards-based grading implemented – and that’s okay. Photo Credit: pianowow via Compfight cc

I wish I’d had standards-based learning training when I started my FIRST teaching job –  I would have been a more effective planner and assessor. Now that I work for a school that does SBG at the secondary level  I can see how the approach leads to units more closely aligned with learning outcomes and facilitates feedback that is much more descriptive,  relevant,  and practicable than what I gave as a new teacher. But I also see where the criterion referenced philosophy standards-based grading is still working within the context of the norm referenced framework of college applications –  and I’m coming to believe that these can be reconciled if you’re willing to accept the reality of the latter.

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Conditions for Standards-Based Grading: Eliminating Grade Averaging

In a previous post1 I described in broad strokes the components necessary for implementing standards-based grading. One of these is the elimination of grade averaging; specifically, using the mean of all the scores in the gradebook to determine a student’s final score. At our school we’ve done this to the extent recommended by Marzano but stopped short of giving teachers full discretion to determine the final grade. For us the challenge has been deciding which system should replace mean-based averaging – or whether full discretion should be left to the teacher.

How should we measure student achievement? Certainly not using mean-based averaging - but other types are fine.
How should we measure student achievement? Certainly not using mean-based averaging – but other types are fine.

Continue reading Conditions for Standards-Based Grading: Eliminating Grade Averaging

When Reality Meets Philosophy: An Introduction to Standards Based Grading

In the roughly seven months since my last real post I’ve moved halfway around the world – literally – to China, where my partner and I now work at Nansha College Preparatory Academy. Of the many, many interesting things about this new experience is the fact that our new school uses standards-based grading (SBG) – at the secondary level. What we’ve found is that although our faculty are committed to it, it’s a challenge to make practices of SBG meet the potential promised by its philosophy.

Our school uses JumpRope to capture our standards-based grading data.
Continue reading When Reality Meets Philosophy: An Introduction to Standards Based Grading