How Standards-Based Grading Transforms Teaching

Sara Stephenson-Snyder, Achieve3000 Literacy Content Writer, McGraw Hill

At McGraw Hill, our work is informed by the experiences of the many former educators on our staff. This series highlights their perspectives.

How do we know that our students are really learning?

This is the question at the center of Standards Based Grading (SBG), the process of evaluating student performance based on their mastery of specific learning competencies rather than an entire subject. Research suggests that SBG is more equitable and transparent than other methods of grading, and it has the power to transform teaching as well. How so? Let me show you…

Standards-Based Grading Simplifies the Instructional Process

Before I implemented SBG in my classroom, lesson planning was a daunting task. There were massive amounts of curriculum to cover throughout the year, as well as an overwhelming number of competing theories on the best instructional practices for student mastery. But SBG changed all of that.

With the standards as the fixed target for instruction, my teaching became more focused, and I used my time and energy in the classroom to facilitate learning rather than plowing through the curriculum. I realized that it wasn’t necessary for my students to read both Antigone and Julius Caesar to analyze how complex characters develop over the course of a text, nor did they need to read an entire novel to draw conclusions and make inferences.

Assignments became simpler, too. Students didn’t need to create an elaborate project to show mastery of plot and sequence. Instead, we could have a 1:1 book talk — better yet, students could use a rubric to facilitate their own book talks in small reading groups.

Standards-Based Grading Clarifies the Grading Process

One of the other advantages of SGB is that it makes the grading process more transparent. Traditional grading practices tend to be subjective, often rewarding student effort more than learning.

SBG utilizes both summative and formative assessments to clearly chart and articulate student progress toward mastery of a standard. Students are not penalized or rewarded for completing tasks. Rather, summative and formative assessments show students, parents, and teachers where a student is in the learning process.

In my classroom, SBG led to deeper conversations about student achievement. For example, one of my students was terrible at taking quizzes, which I sometimes used as a formative assessment. Because other formative assessments had demonstrated that this student was progressing toward mastering the standard, we had a conversation about the content. Sure enough, the student met the criteria established on the assessment rubric as progressing.

In SBG, assessments become a tool to gauge student progress toward meeting a standard rather than some sort of mental competition in which the student either wins or loses. They are a method of gathering data to inform both student learning and teacher instruction.

Standards-Based Grading Puts Students First

Perhaps the greatest transformation that I saw from SBG is that it allowed teachers to individualize student learning, while at the same time empowering students to take more responsibility for their educational progress.

Students didn’t have to worry about making the grade because there were no grades in the traditional sense of the word. They just had to focus their time and energy on learning, and they could do so at their own pace. If a student mastered the standard quickly, then they could move on to a more complex application of that standard. But if a student was struggling, then there would be opportunities to learn the material in different ways.

Overcoming Common Standards-Based Grading Challenges

Many students at our high school became more engaged in the learning process after we made the switch to SBG. Test scores rose across multiple disciplines, as well as among standardized tests like EOC, AP, and ACT. However, there are some dependencies that are important when seeking to successfully transition to SBG:

• SBG schools need an administrative team committed to the SBG process, and to investing in training so teachers can successfully implement the system.
• SBG requires a lot of work at the outset to ensure that students will indeed master the competencies presented. Programs like McGraw Hill’s Study Sync make the process easier, as it is a comprehensive standards-based curriculum that includes both summative and formative assessments.
• SBG doesn’t fully align with college admissions policies. In our school, we used SBG reporting for quarterly grades but utilized percentage-based grades for semester grade reports.

Letting the standards guide curriculum and instruction changed everything in my classroom. And it can do so for yours as well.

Sara has been a content writer for McGraw Hill’s Achieve3000 Literacy for six years. She has created content for several leading educational publishers in her work as a professional writer. Prior to this, she spent twelve years in the classroom, most of it spent teaching high school ELA. Sara lives in Missouri with her family. When she’s not working, she (mostly) enjoys walking/hiking with her Great Dane, perusing the wares at the local bookshop, and hanging out with family and friends.