The Purpose of Standards Based Grading

The Purpose of Grading

The purpose of grading is to give students and parents feedback that helps them to identify their individual strengths and weaknesses. Because students' grades should indicate the mathematics that they know and are able to do, 95% of a student's math grade is comprised of test and quiz scores, with practice comprising the remaining 5%. 

Any given test or quiz may cover two or three different learning objectives. In the past, after correcting a test or a quiz, I gave students one overall score at the top of the paper.  The problem with this system is that it fails to identify in which area(s) each student needs to improve. Two students who received the same score may have completely different areas of strength and weakness. 

 Grades

If you or your parent wants to see your grade, you may check your myDSD account. Each learning goal is entered into the DSD grade book as a separate assessment.  You may also contact me at any time if you want more explanation about your progress and how you can continue to pursue learning.

How to Improve

Often I get emails from parents who are concerned because their child has a B- or a C and they want to know what can be done to bring that up to an A.  The answer is simple. Grow! Learn! Demonstrate mastery in areas that were previously weaknesses! With standards based grading, it is easy to log on to your myDSD account and identify areas of weakness.  

I refer to the flowchart below whenever students discuss their grades with me.  I like to emphasize to them that making mistakes is part of the process - but not the end of the process! Learning doesn't end until they demonstrate mastery.  As students move along the path to demonstrating mastery, their grades on each learning goal will change to reflect their new level(s) of understanding.

Getting Help and Re-Quizzing

The step that immediately follows 'Making Mistakes' is  'Get Help'.  This can look very different for each student. Some students prefer to get help from a classmate, a parent, a sibling, or a tutor.  Additionally, I am very happy to help any student with their learning.  Here are some of the ways that I help students achieve mastery on their learning goals:

               In Class

When I notice that a large portion of my students all made similar mistakes or struggled with the same concept, I will generally use class time following a quiz to discuss these errors and reteach the concept.  Sometimes students may have specific questions regarding their individual mistakes which can also be answered during independent work time in class.

               During Advisory

Advisory is a school wide initiative at South Davis Junior High aimed at helping students succeed in school. For thirty minutes at the end of the school day students attend intervention or extension classes if they are summoned by their teacher. Advisory  period is not optional. Every teacher, administrator, and staff member is working during this time to help students learn and succeed.

               Re-Quizzes 

Each learning goal will appear on at least three in-class quizzes.  Usually one quiz will be given in class each week, covering a few new and a few previous learning goals. However, if students need to take additional quizzes or do not want to wait for the next in-class quiz to demonstrate mastery on a particular learning goal, they may do so at approved times during Advisory.

Quiz retakes must be taken before the END OF CHAPTER TEST that will be given on each chapter. Tests are NOT able to be retaken, and mastery of concepts should be identified through quizzes before the chapter test.

            Other Resources about Standards Based Grading

One of our old math teachers, Mrs. Warner, has been studying the topic of formative feedback and Standards Based Grading for many years. Here  Links to an external site.is a blog post that she wrote about the topic for the Utah Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Here are just a few of the resources that I have studied and relied on as I have created my own system of Standards Based Grading:

Sarah (author of everybodyisageniusblog.blogspot.com): I am using her posters Links to an external site..

Dan Meyer: This post Links to an external site. and this post Links to an external site. had a huge impact on how I think about grading 

Robert J. Marzano: His book Formative Assessment and Standards Based Grading Links to an external site. is research based and the seminal work about Standards Based Grading.