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Change involves the celebration of successes and the reflection on shortfalls. As my school has undertaken the task of transitioning from a traditional grading system to standards-based grading, we've learned a great deal along the way. We have observed a shift in the school culture from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset (Dweck, 2008).

Under standards-based grading, our teachers have created an opportunity for students to persevere in the face of challenges. Students are measured on their proficiency of content standards. Some demonstrate early mastery and are able to move on to more difficult concepts, while others may require reteaching. Teachers are able to easily identify those students who may need some support in order to demonstrate proficiency. Students are beginning to understand and value the process of learning, rather than just earning a grade.

Although I've observed many great aspects of standards-based grading, I've also had many great discussions with other educators on how we can improve our implementation. I've detailed below three peaks (successes) and three pits (areas of improvement) that I've observed with our change to standards-based grading.

The 3 Peaks

Growth Mindset

Teachers are able to use ongoing formative assessments as a way to guide classroom instruction. Students are able to practice their mastery of standards without the penalty of receiving a poor grade in the gradebook. The process of reteaching creates an opportunity for both teachers and students to learn from their mistakes.

Teachers are able to reflect on instruction and evaluate if their lessons truly met the needs of their learners. Students are able to focus their efforts on concepts they struggled to understand and the option for reassessment. Together, reteaching and reassessment allow for all stakeholders to experience that intelligence can be developed and is not set in stone (Dweck, 2008).

Quality Curriculum and Assessments

Standards-based grading requires me to closely examine the actual standards of my content and evaluate the predetermined objectives. Without a clear set of measurable standards, there cannot be quality classroom instruction.

This year has been challenging, as departments have had to redesign instruction and assessments in order to create the opportunity for students to demonstrate proficiency. I've also been able to design assessments that allow for multiple methods of demonstrating mastery of content standards. Although this process has been a lot of work, I've never felt more involved in my curriculum.

Clear Communication

Standards-based grading allows me to clearly communicate with students and parents where individuals are with their understanding of each concept. No longer are students able to hide behind weighted averages and positive academic behaviors such as attendance.

Students should be motivated toward mastery of the material and not demotivated by trying hard and still getting a bad grade on an assessment, only to have to move right along to the next concept without gaining any insight. Standards-based grading allows me to clearly communicate with students about why they did poorly on the previous assessment, and to offer them a chance to work harder toward gaining mastery of the material and demonstrating their ability to achieve.

The 3 Pits

Teaching Responsibility

"I like the overall goal. But I don't want children to always think they can re-do things so they don't try their best the first time" (anonymous parent). I've had many parents communicate a similar concern to me throughout the school year so far. Although some are grateful for reteaching and reassessment, others are worried that we are not preparing their children for the "real world." I communicate to these parents that we are trying to encourage students to value persistence and appreciate effort in order to reach higher levels of achievement, which will benefit them into adulthood.

More Time?

All educators experience the need for more time in the school day, week, month, and year! Reteaching and reassessment opportunities have created additional work for classroom teachers. They are now grading assessments and subsequent reassessments which can take up a significant amount of time.

Many teachers utilize their regular classroom time for reteaching while allowing those students who demonstrated mastery to move on to more challenging concepts independently. Scheduling reassessments has been a challenge, as some teachers have digital assessments that require the computer lab. As more teachers convert to digital assessments and reassessments, the demand for technology has increased schoolwide.

Remaking the Wheel

Although I feel more connected to my curriculum, it's because I find myself redesigning many formative and summative assessments. Some of the activities or projects that I'd previously used in my classroom had been passed on to me by veteran teachers. Upon closer examination, these resources were very well designed but did not effectively offer the opportunity for students to demonstrate proficiency of content standards. I believe that after this year, I will be able to reflect on and fine tune my new assessments without having to redesign entire curriculum units.

These are just a few examples of how standards-based grading has impacted my school culture. Please leave your ideas and comments below about how standards-based grading has been implemented at your school.

Research

Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books trade pbk. ed. New York: Ballantine Books, 2008.

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3 Peaks and 3 Pits of Standards-Based Grading

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Change involves the celebration of successes and the reflection on shortfalls. As my school has undertaken the task of transitioning from a traditional grading system to standards-based grading, we've learned a great deal along the way. We have observed a shift in the school culture from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset (Dweck, 2008).

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Each week brings some new idea that teachers are supposed to implement, while still preparing lessons, grading papers, and keeping their classrooms in some semblance of order. Amid all these challenges, a call to change grading policies can seem particularly unrealistic.

One grading practice that is gaining popularity is standards-based grading, which involves measuring students' proficiency on well-defined course objectives (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). Although many districts adopt standards-based grading in addition to traditional grades, standards-based grading can and should replace traditional point-based grades.

My school, Montrose High School, is located in a small but rapidly growing rural community in southwestern Colorado. We serve a community that is primarily white but that has a significant Latino population. After spending the last three years implementing standards-based grading in my high school math classroom, I have discovered seven solid reasons for replacing point-based grades with a standards-based system.

Reason 1: Grades Should Have Meaning

An A means the student has completed proficient work on all course objectives and advanced work on some objectives.

A B means the student has completed proficient work on all course objectives.

A C means the student has completed proficient work on the most important objectives, although not on all objectives. The student can continue to the next course.

A D means the student has completed proficient work on at least one-half of the course objectives but is missing some important objectives and is at significant risk of failing the next course in the sequence. The student should repeat the course if it is a prerequisite for another course.

An F means the student has completed proficient work on fewer than one-half of the course objectives and cannot successfully complete the next course in sequence.

Reason 2: We Need to Challenge the Status Quo

Many notions I had at the beginning of my career about grading didn't stand up to real scrutiny. The thorny issue of homework is one example of how the status quo needed to change. I once thought it was essential to award points to students simply for completing homework. I didn't believe students would do homework unless it was graded. And yet, in my classroom, students who were clearly learning sometimes earned low grades because of missing work. Conversely, some students actually learned very little but were good at "playing school." Despite dismal test scores, these students earned decent grades by turning in homework and doing extra credit. They would often go on to struggle in later courses, while their parents watched and worried.

Over the past three years, I have radically changed how I formally assess homework-I don't. Of course, it is essential for students to do homework that is tied closely to learning objectives and for students to see those connections (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). Systematic and extensive feedback on assignments sends students the message that they can and should do homework as practice. A typical homework assignment for my students consists of a small collection of problems, each of which is linked to a learning objective. At first, I make those connections for my students, but eventually they make them on their own.

When I assign homework, I discuss with my students where and how it applies to their assessments. My goal is to get students to constantly ask themselves, "Do I know this? Can I do this?" To my surprise, my homework completion rates have remained steady over the past three years. Some students don't do all of the homework that I assign, but they know that they are accountable for mastering the standard connected to it. Of course, not every student who needs to practice always does so, but I am amazed and encouraged that students ask me for extra practice fairly regularly.

Reason 3: We Can Control Grading Practices

One of the biggest sources of frustration in schools today is the sense that we are at the mercy of factors we teachers cannot control. We cannot control student socioeconomic levels, school funding, our salaries, our teaching assignments, increasing class sizes, difficult parents, or a host of other important issues. However, we can control how we assess students.

When I approached my principal and district officials with the idea of using an experimental grading system, I received support and encouragement from all of them. In addition, a number of colleagues have been intrigued and want to make standards-based grading work in their classrooms.

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.

I have found that avoiding point values that might appear in a traditional percentage-based system is helpful because parents and students can get confused if they see numbers that look like what they've seen in the past but refer to a different scale. Teachers who have to assign points can avoid this confusion by using completely different numbers. A point value in the range of 1 to 10, for example, would not have the strong associations of a point value of 85, and thus would not be as easily misinterpreted.

Reason 4: Standards-Based Grading Reduces Meaningless Paperwork

Since I adopted standards-based grading, my load of meaningless paperwork has been drastically reduced, which provides time for more important considerations. Standards-based grading enables me to get the most from every piece of paper students turn in.

Writing feedback only on selected homework problems saves my time when marking papers while still giving me a sense of where students are in their learning. These homework assignments and other formative assessments help me judge the progress of the group as a whole before deciding how to proceed.

I don't assess student mastery of any objective until I am confident that a reasonable number of students will score proficiently, and that makes each assessment mean much more. Students who are still struggling after a significant portion of the class has demonstrated mastery can retest individually. The bottom line is that when I review any set of papers, I walk away knowing a great deal more about what my students know than I ever did before.

Reason 5: It Helps Teachers Adjust Instruction

Imagine two different grade books for the same set of students, as shown in Figure 1. Which one of the two better illustrates what students know and what they still need to learn?

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The standards-based grade book gives a wealth of information to help the teacher adjust instruction. Note that two objectives (1 and 3) may require more class instruction. The notations for Objective 2, on the other hand, suggest that the class only needs practice and one student needs some reteaching.

Students can also see much more information about their learning. In the traditional grade book, Amanda would assume she is in great shape, but standards-based grading reveals that she has not mastered a crucial concept.

Gifted and talented students can be truly challenged in a standards-based classroom because if they show early mastery of fundamental skills and concepts, they can then concentrate on more challenging work that is at higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy or that seeks connections among objectives.

Students who struggle can continue to retest and use alternate assessments until they show proficiency, and they are not penalized for needing extended time. I guide students with special needs to modify their work and, if needed, develop different ways of demonstrating that they've met their proficiency goals. Their working styles can be easily accommodated in this system because modified assignments and assessments require no special adjustments in the grade book. The grade book simply shows where they are in meeting the standards, without reference to how they are demonstrating their learning or what modifications needed to be made.

Reason 6: It Teaches What Quality Looks Like

In the adult world, everything is a performance assessment. If adults on the job make poor decisions or cannot determine the quality of their own work, the results are generally undesirable. Quality matters, and the ability to measure the quality of one's own work is a learned skill.

So how can we teach this essential skill? One way to teach quality is to demand it. We must create an environment where standards can and must be met and where students are not permitted to submit substandard work without being asked to revise.

If we base our grades on standards rather than attendance, behavior, or extra credit (which often has nothing to do with course objectives), we can actually help students grapple with the idea of quality and walk away with a higher degree of self-sufficiency. We can and should report information about student performance in areas like attendance and effort, but we can report it separately from academic achievement (O'Connor, 2007; Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006).

Reason 7: It's a Launchpad to Other Reforms

When I began using standards-based grading, I quickly discovered that I needed to reexamine my curriculum. Each class needed a clear and concise set of standards with precise levels of mastery. This prompted a number of discussions with other teachers in my department, and each year we continue to adapt our objectives. No one can use standards-based grading without clear standards.

In addition to improving curriculum, I have found new ways to use formative assessments and intervention strategies. My work with special education students and English language learners in particular goes much more smoothly because all the modification needed is already built into what I do. I have also been able to work much more effectively with parents by giving them better information.

How do students respond to this style of grading? Of course, their reactions vary. It takes time, discussion, and reflection for students to understand their rights and responsibilities in such a system, and teachers must be patient as students and parents adjust. Many students have expressed increased satisfaction with having a larger degree of control over their grades, although some students do not like the revisions they are required to do. Some struggle to overcome test anxiety and need access to alternate assessments.

As for parents, many of them simply want opportunities for their children to succeed, so they are grateful for the revision and retesting. Each year, parents ask thoughtful questions, with some noting that this method of grading is more similar to evaluation in the workplace.

These seven reasons to change to standards-based grading are merely a starting point. High school teachers need to hold their own practices up to scrutiny and decide whether those practices are worth keeping. By doing so, we unleash a force for change that we can control, with our students and parents as partners.

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Seven Reasons for Standards-Based Grading - ASCD

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Each week brings some new idea that teachers are supposed to implement, while still preparing lessons, grading papers, and keeping their classrooms in some semblance of order. Amid all these challenges, a call to change grading policies can seem particularly unrealistic. One grading practice that is

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Schoolwide Structures for Standards-Based Grading | EL Education

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A parent, a student, a teacher, and the principal from Casco Bay High School in Portland, ME, discuss the structures necessary to reap the benefits of standards-based grading.

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Here is the most recent episode of Uncertain Dots, a weekly Google Hangout with Chad Orzel. Actually, this week I named the episode Uncertain Dots Fly! The "Fly" was added for our guest Andy SuperFly Rundquist (@arundquist) and the "!" was added for our other guest Kelly O'Shea (@kellyoshea) ( her blog is Physics! Blog!).

The motivation for this particular hangout was to talk about Standards Based Grading. What the heck is that? Well, watch the video and it might answer the question. But let me give my own definition.

Standards Based Grading (SBG): This is a philosophy of the role of grades in a class. The idea that a grade should be a reflection of what a student understands. It's like a measuring stick of learning, not whipping stick of obedience. These measurements are then based on standards. Standards are the ideas that you expect students to understand. Example: students should be able to use the momentum principle to solve interesting problems.

But what about the details? How do you implement such a grading method? Well, that's the problem, right? There are many, many different methods and techniques you could use to move to a SBG model. My advice, just start with the idea that a grade is just a particular measurement. Allow multiple pathways for a student to demonstrate that they actually understand the material. For me, I give in class assessments (quizzes) and allow students to submit video screencasts to demonstrate their understanding of the material. Here is an older post with more details if you like. Oh, that's not enough? Here are a whole bunch of posts about grades and learning. Have fun with that.

The other useful advice: don't try to do too many new things all at once. Slow change is best for everyone. That way you don't pull a teaching muscle.

Goal-Less Physics Problems ---------

I like to make changes in the way I run classes also. Slow and steady changes. There are two things I would like to try, the first is the goal-less physics problem. Kelly O'Shea has a very nice description of this on her blog.

The basic idea is to present a situation instead of a question. Let me start with a traditional physics problem.

Traditional Problem: A tennis ball is launched from a ball shooter at ground level such that it has a speed of 11 m/s and shot at an angle of 30° above the horizontal. How far will it go along the ground before hitting the ground?

If I wanted to make this a goal-less problem, it would look like this:

Goal-Less Problem: A tennis ball is launched from a ball shooter at ground level such that it has a speed of 11 m/s and shot at an angle of 30° above the horizontal.

See. No question. It's just a situation. Maybe they should be called "question-less problems". So, what's a student to do? They can still model this situation. Here are some possible things they could figure out after applying a kinematics model of constant vertical acceleration with zero horizontal acceleration:

Distance the ball travels.

Time of flight for the ball.

Maximum height of ball.

Time to maximum height.

Speed at maximum height.

Velocity at impact with the ground.

Angle of impact with ground.

It doesn't stop there. What about air resistance? A student could calculate the maximum air resistance force on the ball and compare that with the gravitational force. Sure, that's a much more advanced problem but this goal-less problem doesn't limit students. It makes this situation more like real life where you have to find the questions and the answers.

Direct Measurement Videos (DMV) -----------

If you know me, you know that I love video analysis. The basic idea is to look at position and time data from a video to do whatever makes you happy. My standard method is to take awesome videos I find online and then use Tracker Video Analysis. Tracker is very powerful, but with great power comes a price - it's not always the easiest for students to use. Oh, don't get me wrong, they can use it. However, they see it as just a bunch of tedious computer clicking.

This is where the Direct Measurement Videos come in ( Peter Bohacek). These high quality videos have annotations so that students don't really even need to use any external software. Here, take a look at this overview with examples.

Check out all of the Direct Measurement Videos. I think that most of the videos are downloadable so that students can go frame by frame.

How do you use these videos? Well, there are many options. My plan is to send the students to particular DMV videos that go along with a lecture or lab. The students can work on these videos on their own as a way of preparing for the class. Let's just see how that goes. Maybe I'll change as the semester goes along (I usually do).
Homepage image: Mike Willis/Flickr

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Here is the most recent episode of Uncertain Dots, a weekly Google Hangout with Chad Orzel. Actually, this week I named the episode Uncertain Dots Fly! The "Fly" was added for our guest Andy SuperFly Rundquist (@arundquist) and the "!" was added for our other guest Kelly O'Shea (@kellyoshea) (her blog is Physics!