The document discusses the key components of standards-based grading. It begins by describing how the author changed their grading practices after their son received a C on a math test but later understood the material. Some of the key aspects of standards-based grading discussed include allowing unlimited re-assessments, grouping students by proficiency rather than class, and ensuring grades reflect evidence of learning of standards rather than things like homework. The author also provides examples of how they implement standards-based grading in their own classroom through tracking student progress on benchmarks and grouping students for instruction.

1. Grades - What do they mean?
Presented by: Karen Teff, NBCT

2. Questions I will try to address:
Questions I will try to address:
• Why change?
• What do grades mean?
• What does standards based grading look
like and what are the key components?

3. “Fair Isn’t Always Equal” by Rick Wormeli
“How to Grade for Learning” by Ken O’Connor
“Formative Assessment and Standards-Based
Grading” by Robert J. Marzano
The following presentation is a combination of my opinion
and opinions based on the research presented in the
following 3 books:
All grade examples and stories are real and were supplied
to me from various people across the country.

6. Taken from: How to Grade for Learning by Ken O’Connor

9. Why I Made a Change:

10. • My son came home one day with a C on a
math test. His comment was,“I get it now...
but I didn’t get it when we had the test”
Reason 1:

11. • I told him that he should ask his teacher if
he could retest. He came home from
school the next day and I asked him if he
had talked to his teacher. He said he had...

12. • The teacher’s response was,“We are
already done with that chapter and have
moved onto something else.You will just
have to do better on the next chapter test.”

13. • Standards based grading means that the
only outcome that is important is student
understanding of the benchmark.That
means anytime, not just on your time.

15. • Students should not be penalized for
learning at a different rate than you teach -
or for having a bad day

16. • Students should be allowed to redo
assessments as many times as they want to
or need to in order to demonstrate
proficiency.
• I actually require 3 re-assessments on every
benchmark (benchmark grouping). The 3rd
one is used to replace earlier/lower scores.
• I continue to re-assess these benchmarks...
all year long!

17. “The primary purpose of
classroom assessment should be
to inform learning, not to sort
and select or to justify a grade” -
McTighe and Ferrara, Assessment and
Learning in the Classroom

18. • What does that tell you about giving a “test”
within a week of the end of a marking period?

19. You could also add authors, actors, singers... hardly
anyone in the real-world is judged on their 1st attempt at
anything and certainly not on only one attempt.

20. “The consequence for a student
who fails to meet a standard
should not be a low grade, but
rather the opportunity - indeed
the requirement - to resubmit
his/her work.”
- Reeves, “Ahead of the Curve:The Power
of Assessment to Transform Teaching and
Learning”
Reeves, “Ahead of the Curve:The Power
of Assessment to Transform Teaching and
Learning”

23. • Students saying,“I got an A in ____ and I
used to know that but I can’t remember it
anymore.”
Reason 2:

25. • In addition to re-assessments, standards-
based grading means constant revisiting of
benchmarks to ensure long-term
knowledge of the topic.
• No more “chapter 1” then move on to
“chapter 2” and never re-visit the topics in
chapter 1.

26. What about students who experience
multiple absences - for whatever reason??
• If a teacher follows the structure of “teach, test,
move on... teach, test, move on... think about a
student who is absent for 2 weeks due to an illness.
When will this student ever learn and be assessed
on the material missed?
• Now imagine if this happens once or twice a year
for many years... how many holes are in the
student’s knowledge?
• I have actually had students say to me,“Oh, I was
gone last year when we learned that so I never
really got it”...

27. • Learning for long-term understanding, not
just for the grade takes the “game” out of
school that students play. Cram, test, forget,
repeat. Cram, test, forget, repeat...
“Students see their schoolwork as a game they play
for grades” - Winger, Grading to Communicate

29. • It appeared that grades didn’t mean the
same thing in my class as they did in other
people’s classes. I wanted my grades to be
meaningful.
Reason 3:

30. “The private nature of grading and the
dramatic inconsistency in approaches within
departments in high schools and colleges
and between classrooms in elementary
schools means that educators have major
problems to address” - Ken O’Connor, How
to Grade for Learning

31. • Part of that “private nature” is the
decisions teachers make as to
weighting of particular items.

33. If the only changes made here were:
Weekly challenge: 5%
Quizzes/tests: 90%
Homework: 5%
This student’s grade would now be
88.96% = B+

34. • May not seem like a big deal, but if
that also happened in Q2, this
student’s Q2 grade would have been
91.56% = A- instead of 92.32% = A-.
• So what, right?

35. • Wrong! This would have changed the student’s
semester grade - the one that goes on the
transcript and affects class ranking, which in
turn affects scholarships, colleges, etc... would
have been 90.26% = A- instead of 89.65% = B+.
The exact same scores, just weighted
differently... who knows the long term effect??

36. Just by switching
grading scales,
this kid could
have had
A, A, A, A-, A

37. • What does that say about our class-
rankings? Opportunities for scholarships?

38. • I am not saying that there is anything wrong
with the way the previous grades are
calculated, nor with how the grading scales
are made. I am simply asking this:Are you
OK with the fact that grades have different
meanings in different classes? Or should the
meaning of a grade be consistent across
classes and across schools?

39. • In a standards based grade book, all
benchmark groups are weighted equally.

40. In an age of standards, grades are
anything but standard!

41. ??

42. • A parent once got angry at me when I said
to her at conferences that the reason her
son was struggling in geometry was
because his algebra skills were weak. I
suggested her son get extra help on his
algebra understanding. Her comment was
“He got a B in algebra - he understood it
just fine.” That got me thinking...

43. This is what I found: He indeed did get a B!
Q3 Homework
week 15 7/8 88%
p 365, 1-30 30/30 100%
p381, 6-62 26/28 92.86%
p375, 6-58ev 23/27 85.18%
week 16 8/8 100%
p387, 6-64ev 26/29 89.66%
p393, 6-50ev 25/27 92.59%
WS8.5AB 61/61 100%
p 401,4-54ev 24/26 92.31%
week 17 8/8 100%
p407,6-30ev 24/26 92.31%
p413, 6-22ev 16/18 88.89%
p421, 1-39 39/39 100%
week 18 8/8 100%
Parent signature 20/20 100%
p430, 6-48e 35/42 83.33%
week 19 8/8 100%
p435, 8-42ev 22/26 84.62%
WS 9.3 39/46 84.78%
p441, 8-34 75/52 144.23%
p446, 7-20 25/28 89.29%
week 20 8/8 100%
WS9.7Ao/e 70/30 233.33%
p475, 1-44 42/44 95.46%
Q3 Homework Totals 669/ 647 103%
Q3 Tests & Quizzes
Quiz 15 7/8 87.5%
Quiz WS 7.6 10/16 62.5%
Test Ch 7 15/30 50%
Quiz WS 8.2 21/25 84%
Quiz 16 4/8 50%
Quiz MCA 17 4/8 50%
Ch 8 Test 39/70 56%
Quiz 2/8 25%
Quiz 18 5/8 62.5%
Quiz 20 4/8 50%
Quiz 21 4/8 50%
Quiz WS 9.7 19/36 52.78%
Test Ch 9 14/50 28%
Q3 Tests & Quizzes Totals 148/283 52.29%
Q3 Quarter Grade Totals 817/930 87.8% B

45. • I was finding several students who, for
whatever reason, were not doing
homework, but were able to do well on
assessments.
• In addition, I was finding the opposite -
some kids did all their homework but still
didn’t do well on assessments - what did I
want their grade to reflect?
Reason 4:

46. I want my grades to reflect
evidence of learning!

47. Major changes in my own teaching and
grading practices since embracing the
philosophies of SBG:
• Home work is less than 10% of my grades -
typically closer to 5%. In addition, lots of
homework assignments aren’t graded at all.
They truly are just for practice. I used to
count it up to 40%.
• Kids actually do homework now - they see
the importance of the practice.

48. • Students are grouped by proficiency of the
benchmark for enrichment or intervention.
• Multiple re-assessments are for full credit,
not just for corrections or partial credit.

49. • I follow standards not textbook.
• My grades incorporate multiple scores for
each benchmark or benchmark group - the
more scores the better!!
• One “test” will have multiple benchmark
scores, so are graded in several grade “bins”
or benchmark categories.

50. • For every one thing I enter into the grade
book, there are probably 2 that I didn’t
enter... many formative assessments (like a
ticket-out-the-door) are used as practice
and as a quick check for student
understanding... and still I have probably 3
times as many grades as some gradebooks I
have seen.
• These formative assessments drive my next
move.

51. • No more extra credit!
• The only things graded are those which
show attainment of benchmark knowledge
- not attendance, behavior, book covers,
etc.
“If a teacher must use a point system to satisfy an administrative
mandate or to use a particular grade book, that teacher can still use
a standards-based system. The crucial idea is to use a system that is
not based on the inappropriate use of averages. The system must not
allow students to mask their level of understanding with their
attendance, their level of effort, or other peripheral issues.” - Patricia
Scriffiny, Seven Reasons for Standards Based Grading

55. Any comments?
Student A
various random
assignments

56. Student A
Continued

57. “When anything other than the level of
achievement on the stated learning goals
is figured into a grade, we lose the
meaning of the grade” - Chappuis &
Chappuis, Understanding School Assessment
Student A
Continued again

58. True Story: I was recently told by a mother
that her son, who is now in college, received a
B in a class one time. This was in the days
before Parent Portal... She had been asking her
son about his classes and he said he had an A in
all of them. So, she was quite surprised when
she saw a B on his report card. She went to
talk to his teacher to find out why he had a B.

59. Upon seeing the fact that her son had 96% in
this particular class, the Mom’s comment was,
“Wow! You must have a very strict grading
scale if 96% is a B!” The teacher’s response
was, “No, it’s just that I refuse to give an A to
a student who doesn’t do any extra credit. He
could have done more and chose not to.”
That was his only B from 8th-12th grade.

60. Talk about having the ball pulled out from under you!!

61. • Grade inflation helps nobody. Neither does
grade deflation.

63. Let’s revisit this grade - any comments?

64. Another true story:

65. Another true story:

67. After deciding to change my philosophy, I also had to
change my ways of writing and giving tests

68. Note: this is
only a part of
the assessment

71. • This means creating multiple versions of
each benchmark assessment - in small
“chunks” so the student only has to redo
the parts on which she/he was not
proficient.
• This also means no grade is ever set - it is
always a work in progress - until the
artificial cut-off of report-card time.

72. Keeping track of student progress

75. Name
__________________
________
4 = mastered it!
3 = I get it
2 = I kinda get it
1 = I don’t get it
Semester 1:
IIIA/9.3.4.4: Properties of Linear Functions
_____ calculate slope when given 2 points
_____ write an equation of a line when given a table of values
_____ find x and y intercepts on a table
_____ find x and y intercepts in an equation
_____ translate equations from slope intercept form to standard form and back again
_____ graph lines when given a table or equation or points
_____ determine slopes of parallel lines
_____ determine slopes of perpendicular lines
_____ write the equation for an arithmetic sequence and use it to find a given term
VB5/9.3.4.4/9.3.3.4: Coordinate Geometry
_____ calculate midpoint given 2 points
_____ use the Pythagorean theorem
_____ calculate the distance between 2 points
_____ use slopes and distances to prove ideas such as rectangle, rhombus, isosceles, parallelogram, etc

76. VB3/9.3.3.7: Properties of 2 Dimensional Shapes
_____ know and use the triangle sum theorem
_____ calculate complementary and supplementary angles
_____ exterior angle theorem
_____ interior angle sums and interior angles of polygons
_____ mid-segments of triangles
_____ mid-segments of trapezoids
_____ properties of quadrilaterals including parallelogram, rectangle, rhombus, square, trapezoid
_____ isosceles triangle theorem
VB1/9.3.3.1/9.3.3.2: Parallel Lines Cut by a Transversal
____ vertical angles
____ corresponding angles
____ alternate interior angles
____ alternate exterior angles
IICG2/9.3.1.1/9.3.1.2: Using Formulas
____ area of triangle, parallelograms and non-regular figures that can be broken into familiar shapes
____ perimeter of anything
____ volume of prism, cylinder, cone, pyramid, sphere (may include finding slant height using pythagorean theorem)
____ surface area of prism, cylinder, cone, pyramid, sphere
____ area and circumference of circles
IIBG10: Proportionality and Similar Figures
____ dilations and scale factors (using mapping notation such as
D(a) = (.5x, .5y) or knowing how scale factors change a figure)
____ side-splitting theorem
____ proportional altitude theorem
____ similar figures
____ perimeter, area and volume ratios

77. • I use the self-check sheet as well as assessment
data to group kids by benchmark understanding. I
may have one group of kids working on ideas of
proportionality, one working on using formulas and
one working on the computers investigating new
information about a benchmark not yet taught.

78. • Sometimes the kids who have
already demonstrated proficiency
at a given benchmark act as the
“group leaders” or “helpers” and
they help the other students who
are struggling.These leaders often
change, depending upon the topic.

79. • In a pure SBG system, students would be
given the following scores:
• 4= you have exceeded the standard
(exemplary)
• 3= you have mastered or are very close to
mastering the standard (proficient)
• 2= you still need to work towards
mastering the standard (partially proficient
or emerging)
• 1= you need more support and practice in
order to master the standard (not
proficient)

80. • Because of the world we live in, I found it
not realistic to grade this way. I still need to
give a letter grade because colleges,
parents, scholarships, etc still understand
letter grades. In addition, our grading
programs are not set up to handle a pure
SBG system.

81. So I would say my grade book is a blend of traditional and
standards based:
If I were in charge of grading, I would have reported this student’s
grades as:
Linear Functions - proficient/exemplary (A)
Coordinate Geometry - proficient (B)
Properties of 2D shapes - emerging (C)
Using formulas - proficient (B)
Properties of 3D shapes - proficient/exemplary (A)
Proportional reasoning - proficient (B)

84. Things to notice: mid-quarter,
strengths/weaknesses, review

85. • From my experience, parents love a
standards based system because it makes
sense... it is not based on whether or not a
kid can learn at the teacher’s pace. In
addition, a grade report shows strengths
and weaknesses, not just if the student did
his/her homework or not.

86. • “It should be clear that single-letter
grading (or single percent reporting)
is incompatible with the meaning of
standards-based education” -
Melograno, Grading and Report Cards for
Standards Based Education

87. • “The use of columns [grade bins] in a grade
book to represent standards instead of
assignments, tests, and activities is a major
shift in thinking for teachers” - Marzano and
Kendall, A Comprehensive Guide to Designing
Standards-Based Districts, Schools and Classrooms

88. Remember these?
Which one tells you more about the student’s understanding of the
benchmarks?
Traditional Grade Report Standards Based Grade Report

90. Susan Brookhart, Grading and Learning: Practices that Support Student Achievement

91. Key Components Re-Visited
• grade by benchmark, not by assessment types (HW, Quizzes,Tests, Projects)
• multiple assessments of same benchmark - don’t necessarily count 1st
attempt. Retest throughout the entire year to ensure long-term knowledge
attainment.
• not everything assigned must be “graded”. Formative assessments are
critical.
• grades are used to inform learning and instruction - data informs instruction
and student attainment of benchmark informs assessment
• assessments are aligned directly to benchmarks and graded by benchmark
(not single grade)
• scores need to get back to students in a timely manner to allow learning
from mistakes as well as to allow time for remediation and re-assessment
• the ONLY things that are assessed are those things that demonstrate
benchmark proficiency
• extra credit, bonus points, group work, puzzles, word searches, etc have no
place in standards based grading. Grade inflation helps nobody.