Standards Based Grading - Grades K-5
Standards Based Grading (SBG) is now used in grades K through 5 to report student progress. We hope the information provided below will explain our school district's grading philosophy.
What is Standards-Based Grading?
A system of assessing and reporting student progress towards mastery (proficiency) of meaningful specific skills and goals derived from the standards.
All SBG report cards include specific clusters of standards in the content areas of Literacy and Math. They provide an overview of the standards relating to the knowledge and skills your child should meet by the end of the year. The following scale will be used to reflect your child's progress towards meeting each cluster of standards.
The Standards-Based Grading Scale is as follows:
- Earning a “3E” means the student has advanced understanding and exceeds grade-level expectations. A “3E” is difficult to obtain and indicates unusually high achievement.
- Earning a “3” means the student has proficient understanding and meets grade-level expectations. A “3” is something to be CELEBRATED! THIS IS THE GOAL!
- Earning a “2” means the student has basic understanding and partially meets grade-level expectations. A “2” indicates that a child may need extra help or time to understand a concept or skill.
- Earning a “1” means the student has minimal understanding and does not meet grade-level expectations. A student receiving a “1” may need interventions in order to meet grade-level expectations if progress is not being made. According to the Performance Rubrics, a “1” is considered “Needs Improvement”.
In addition, do not be alarmed if your child receives performance indicators of 2 or 1 during a trimester. In most cases, minimal and developing understanding and demonstration of the skills is exactly the level of mastery that students should have at that particular time of year. Your child's teacher will communicate to you if there are specific areas of concern. By the end of the year, however, we expect students to receive performance indicators of 3 (The student has met the grade level learning standards in this cluster) or in a few instances a 3E (The student has exceeded all grade level learning standards in this cluster).
The standards-based scale is not a linear scale that correlates to a numerical percentage such as an A or B. Instead, it is progressive and allows students to think of their leaning on a growing continuum.
What is the value of Standards-Based Grading?
Standards-Based Grading encourages:
- More effective and concise feedback for students, parents, and educators to monitor student learning.
- A focus on specific skills and multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery.
- A celebration of student learning, instead of earning grades, which increases student’s motivation and self-esteem.
- Real world evaluation, which aligns to state assessments.
- Academic indicators to be separated from extraneous factors (e.g., work habits, homework, behavior, participation).
Why assess student progress through a standard-based report card?
Classroom teachers are better able to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses in a standards-based learning environment, thereby permitting a more informed approach to individual student instruction. A standards-based report card identifies how well a child is mastering each particular skill.
What will a standards-based report card tell you about your child?
A standards-based report card is effective in informing parents about specific skill achievement as measured against state academic grade level requirements and benchmarks. For example, instead of a child earning a “B” in reading, he or she will be evaluated separately in areas such as comprehension and decoding.
How are standards-based report cards different from traditional report cards?
By evaluating specific skills within each subject, parents, students, and teachers can be better informed about any areas requiring additional work. Standards-based report cards differ from traditional report cards in that there are no averages calculated for an overall subject area. Instead, proficiency towards a specific skill is measured. Proficiency is measured in various ways in the classroom, including formal or informal assessments, performance tasks, or verbal responses. Proficiency is reported as the most recent representation of multiple points of data based on end-of-year grade level outcomes. Proficiency is measured on a growth scale ranging from 1 through 3.
The format of the SBG report card will identify the group of standards in each grade-level content area and document how students are progressing towards proficiency towards curricular and end of the year goals. Standards-Based Grading benefits students, teachers, parents and guardians by creating a common language for discussions, as well as establishing expectations of student development in academic and non-academic areas.
Here’s a helpful resource for families: