Conforming to standards

The current state of education in this country is under serious scrutiny. Many educators have begun questioning how much the grading system is affecting the progress of students. Many school districts have decided to switch their grading system to a standards-based system instead of a traditional point system. Many school systems, in particular Davenport Community School District in Davenport, Iowa, are implementing this system now and plan to have it completely rolled out by 2020.

The trick has been getting staff, students and parents on board for such a shift. Students in DCSD who have been part of a SBAR pilot program were surveyed to see what their preference was.

9th grade students at Davenport West High School are part of a pilot program for standards based grading. These students have clearly shown that they understand and prefer to be assessed based on individual skills. “I like that when I get my rubric returned, I can figure out exactly which area I struggled with,” said freshman Kylee Jones.

Standards Based Assessment and Reporting

Alissa Hansen and Megan Burns are both secondary teachers at Davenport West HIgh School in Davenport, Iowa. They have been piloting standards based grading for two years.

Sophia and Claire are both working on revising an essay in which five different standards were assessed. After receiving the rubric with feedback, they were both ready to work on improving certain areas of their writing assignment. One of the many perks to SBAR is that what matters most if what students can demonstrate by the end of instruction. Revision is a necessity.

Many believe that SBAR is not perfect, but traditional grading is not perfect either. There are pros and cons to everything, especially in education. What education lacks most currently, is it’s ambition to change. Standards Based Assessing and Reporting is a step toward attempting something new and constructive.