Do you find yourself asking “How does standards based grading work?” then look no further as I am a high school science teacher that loves to help other teachers implement standards based grading in their high school classrooms. I have tested this out in my own classroom and have seen so much success and I hope that I will be able to help you find the same success in your classroom!

Before we jump in, if you are looking to implement standards based grading in your high school classroom, then I may have just the right thing for you! Get started on your standards based grading journey with my free guidebook that outlines how to implement standards based grading in your high school classroom. I will walk you step by step as you set up your standards based grading system. Become a standards based grading rockstar today!

So what is standards based grading?

Standards based grading (SBG) is a shift in education to focus on student learning. With SBG, the content is divided into standards that students should master by the end of the course. Teachers track student learning so that they can provide mastery-oriented feedback to students to help improve their learning.

Standards based grading vs traditional grading – what is the difference?

Standards based grading and traditional grading systems are very different.  In a traditional grading system, there is an emphasis on earning points to get a good grade, which means you are not measuring achievement. You assign grades on individual assignments, not specific learning targets. Students earn a percentage grade for all graded work, including classwork, homework, quizzes, tests, projects, etc. Those percentage grades are then averaged together to create one value that represents the overall grade the student has earned for the course.

Grades are usually scored on a 100-point scale. This creates drastic room for error in assigning grades based on achievement. Additionally, these grades often get skewed by extra credit and the use of zeros. Students may earn extra credit for doing additional work, winning games, bringing in needed classroom items, etc. Extra credit can inflate grades and make it look like a student has a greater understanding of the material than in reality. Also, zeros may be used if a student does not turn an assignment in on time or at all. Zeros have the ability to drastically kill a student’s course grade even though they do understand the material. Do either of these, extra credit or zeros, reflect the student’s actual understanding of the material? Not really! 

To help make the grades a more accurate reflection of achievement, teachers need to reduce the grading scale from 100 points to either a 4-point or 5-point scale. Things like extra credit and zeros are not used to prevent the skewing of grades. This helps ensure grades are based on mastery. 

In a SBG system, teachers can use numbers or letters in their grading scale. Grades are assigned per standard, not per assignment. This means that one assignment, like a project, could have one or two grades associated with it if there is more than one standard being assessed.

With standards based grading, the course grade should reflect a student’s mastery of the standards for that course. The goal is to remove the behavior from the grades. For example, when assignments are not turned in on time, teachers will deduct late points. The problem is, that the student may have needed the extra time to show mastery as compared to their peers. But now you are penalizing the fact that they needed more time. Not all students learn at the same pace, and the deduction of late points skews grades. 

I know many teachers will struggle with making grades only a measurement of achievement. I struggled with this early on because I wanted to teach my students about time management and meeting deadlines. Instead of penalizing their grade for not meeting these expectations, teachers should be providing written feedback to the student and parent/guardian. I use the comments section on report cards to communicate this information. I find students and parents are more likely to see the fact that a student struggles with meeting deadlines in this manner than just deducting late points. There is more likely to be an adjustment with clear, written communication.

Additionally, with a standards based grading system, the most recent evidence of mastery is used to determine the overall grade. Students who struggle early on in the learning process should not be penalized. Most likely, students are going to need to practice with a standard multiple times before mastery. Therefore, the average should not be used because that takes away from a student improving in their learning.

Ideally, a standards based grading system should have a grade on the report card for each standard assessed. However, most schools do not have a learning management system designed for this grade book. Therefore, most teachers will still need to convert the mastery levels for each standard into one final grade for the course. More to come on this below!

Why should I switch?

The problem I was finding with traditional grading systems is that students became good at “playing the game of school”. My students knew how to easily earn points to achieve high grades. They would cheat their way through assignments or cram for a test to “get a good grade”. But true learning was never actually taking place. They could not retain information after a test or even after taking the course.

I read this quote by Henry L. Roediger and it really struck me because it highlighted the fact that most students will get good grades in their classes, but walk away retaining very little of the content. He said, “Cramming may lead to a better grade on a given exam. But with many students, it’s not like they can’t remember the material when they move on to a more advanced class, it’s like they’ve never seen it before.” As a former student myself, I felt embarrassed reading this because it is so stinkin true! There were so many times I would stay up all night cramming for the test the night before so I could get an A, but then I would walk away from the class literally not remembering a single thing. 

Reflecting on my past experiences I knew I wanted to make a change in my grading system. I no longer wanted students to “play the game of school” to get a good grade if it meant they were not actually learning anything. That is when I started researching all about mastery learning and standards based grading.

In a traditional grading system, students earn points for quizzes, tests, classwork, homework, projects, extra credit, and the list goes on. Sometimes, the silliest things can add points to a student’s grade. For example, I have seen teachers give students extra credit for bringing boxes of tissues in. This could have bumped a student from a C+ to a B- but does that grade actually reflect the student’s mastery of the content? On the other hand, teachers often deduct points for behavioral issues. For example, a student submits an amazing project 2 weeks late so they earn half credit, a 50% or F. But looking at the project, it is AMAZING! But because it’s late that F is all they can earn, bringing down their term average from an A to a C+. Does that grade really reflect their overall understanding?

Grades should be a reflection of a student’s mastery of content or skills. Comparing standards based grading vs traditional grading, the traditional grading system often punishes students for behavior while rewards students for following along and playing the game of school. SBG focuses on learning and mastery rather than points.

How does standards based grading work?

Decide on your grading scale

There are many grading scales out there that you can get to work for your standards based grading system. I have seen 4-point scales, 5-point scales, etc. Some scales use numbers while others use letters. The scale you end up using is entirely based on what fits with your classroom.

I personally like the 4-point scale. Again, the smaller the scale, the less room for error in determining a student’s mastery. I assign a 4 for students who have mastered the standard. This means that the student demonstrated mastery of the content or skill in complex ways. They have gone above and beyond expectations. Students meeting the standard earn a level 3 score. For example, if the standard says to “use a model to describe the transfer of energy in photosynthesis” and a student can describe the basics of energy transfer during photosynthesis but does not include any extra details or make strong connections, then they have met the expectation.

A level 1 indicates the student is not meeting the standard at all. The student answered most questions incorrectly or did not meet expectations. Think of level 1 as F-quality work. 

I always explain level 2 last because it is somewhere between level 1 and level 3. To earn this score, a student has shown some mastery. It is not like they get most answers wrong. They know some of their material but do not quite meet the full standard. These are the students who are getting there but need some help still.

I have lengthy discussions with my students about the differences between the levels. Students are used to the traditional 100-point grading scale so they may not understand their grades. They have a hard time seeing only 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s in the grade book and translating that to how well they are doing.

I make sure to keep posters hung at the front of my classroom that explain the differences between each level so students can easily refer to them at any time. Before an assessment, I will point out the posters and remind the class about the 4 levels. When I return work I will also go over the posters. Eventually, the differences will just stick with the students because we talk about them so much.

Check out the posters I use in my classroom here.

Providing feedback with a standards based grading rubric

Rubrics are at the heart of making standards based grading work in a high school classroom. Rubrics allow you to provide mastery-oriented feedback to students. Remember that standards based grading is about students improving their learning. For real improvement to take place, students need to understand what they are doing wrong and how they could improve.

The rubrics I remember from school took up entire pages. They had a description for every level of every rubric category. While those may explain the differences between the levels, I doubt any student will read through every single description on the rubric.

After listening to some podcasts on rubrics, I fell in love with the “single-point rubric”. You have a column for the standard, one for the mastery level earned, and one for written feedback. I have lengthy discussions with my students about the differences between the 4 levels so there is no need to have written descriptions for each level in the rubric.

This also allows me to provide detailed feedback to individual students about their learning. Students appreciate individualized feedback as they see my investment in their education. While it does take time to provide this written feedback, there are common comments that I use often to help save time.

Using a standards based grading report card

The trickiest part for me to get standards based grading to work in my high school classroom was due to our school’s grade book software. We do not use standards based grading software at my school. Therefore, I have created my own easy grading calculator to use as a standards based grading tracking sheet. You and the student can monitor progress on various standards by using this report card.

You can set up a tracking sheet in Google Sheets or Excel pretty easily. Each row represents the standard and each column represents the scores earned on that standard.

Over time you will be able to track a student’s understanding of any given standard. You can use that evidence to have a conversation with the student about which standards they need to focus on for improvement.

More Ideas for Standards Based Grading Systems

AP Biology and AP Chemistry switch to standards-based grading for 2020-2021 school year

Standards based grading in AP U.S. History (APUSH)

Implementing standards based grading

I absolutely love sharing my ideas about my standards based grading system and hope that you find my ideas helpful for your classroom! After reading this, if you feel you are ready to take the plunge into standards based grading in your high school classroom, sign up for my free guidebook to become an expert at standards based grading! I can’t wait to help you go from “How do standards based grading work?” to “I am a rockstar at standards based grading!”