Professional Conference

Standards Based Grading

Amanda Pool
On March 19
th
there was a meeting on Standards Based Grading. Frenchtown Schools are
looking at transferring over to this system of grading within the next few years. By participating in this
professional development opportunity I was able to sit with a group and discuss what a standard was.
Each group was given a standard and was told to come up with an explanation for that standard and
what exactly the assessment criteria would be, especially for that grade level. Since I was in 2
nd
grade for
student teaching, I continued to work with the second grade team. We were also asked to get a letter
grade and define what that means.
After our small group discussions, each letter grade had to send up a representative to discuss
our definition of that grade. What we found was that each interpretation was different. For instance, if a
teacher had a B- and another had a C+, the differences between the two were little to none. Most came
to the determination that the difference was one point, but what was that one point for? We also
discussed homework and if it can be graded or not? Who is doing the homework? Mom? Dad? Brothers
or sisters? It was an interesting discussion and opened my eyes to understanding the importance of
grading and doing it well.
We were then given a lecture on Standards Based Grading and the benefits of it. After our
lecture and power-point we were able to regroup and discuss some more. We were given an article on
Standards Based Grading and had to come up with a T-chart for one reason for this style of grading. We
were given some time to talk and figure out our reason and what we agreed with and didnt agree with.
After this we all had the opportunity to share and take notes on what others had dissected. There was a
lot of heated discussion on what exactly it is that is graded. Another tricky part was dealing with special
education students and how they are being graded by standards because it is obvious that they arent
proficient. It was interesting to see the school employees work through their questions and concerns.
Throughout this professional development opportunity I was able to see the inner workings of a
school staff. I could see that the concerns across the board for students were present from kindergarten
to 6
th
grade. Teachers were able to work together to make a plan for the future of their students
whether the teacher was music or 3
rd
grade. It was a great experience and I hope to continue to learn
more about Standards Based Grading.