Three Lessons for Schools Shifting Their Grading

In May 2012, the Solon Community School District in Iowa, with 1,500 students, became one of the first in the country to use standards-based grading practices with all students. For nearly 30 years prior, elementary teachers had reported student learning using only standards, but the school board’s decision five years ago marked the beginning of a new era for secondary students and parents to view levels of learning beyond point accumulation.

Because more than 85 percent of students in our district score as proficient on statewide assessments, teachers described standards-based grading as a better way to communicate learning proficiency with stakeholders.

Although many teachers and students viewed the change in grade reporting as a positive development, a group of parents in our bedroom community quickly started to question school officials about this shift. While the majority of parents were simply curious and sought to understand standards-based grading, a small vocal segment pushed back on the new paradigm. Upon reflection, we learned three key lessons from our standards-based grading implementation.

Lesson 1: Involve higher education voices.

Dispelling the concerns from parents of our high school students was most frequently related to preparing them for life following graduation. Parents were justifiably concerned about their student’s admission into selective colleges with nontraditional grading practices.

Along with general college admission concerns, another question emerged: How might the increased rigor of standards-based grading affect Solon High School students in the quest for competitive scholarships? Without homework completion points and extra credit bumping B’s to A’s, demonstration of course content has become the currency of the classroom. After disseminating a transcribed conversation between the high school principal and an admissions official from the local university, many questions were answered and fears allayed.

In hindsight, proactively involving admissions representatives from colleges and universities from the beginning would have debunked admissions and scholarship myths.

Lesson 2: Traditional grading dominates the electronic grade book market.

Like many schools, we trained our parents to stay engaged with their children’s educational progress through regular updates pushed through the student information system. Parents came to view the electronic grade book as a timeline of activities and events written in ink. With the shift to standards-based grading, the electronic grade book changed from a timeline written in ink to a thermometer written in pencil. As students demonstrate a higher level of understanding, the grade book changes.

We quickly learned electronic grade books were designed for traditional grading practices rather than standards-based grading. Despite hours of vendor webinars and phone calls, all of the available options presented additional obstacles in our local context. These included log-in hurdles, additional data entry for teachers, and/or syncing hiccups with our primary information database. In the end, we landed on a simple solution — creating and annotating screenshots of our retrofitted traditional electronic grade book as an informative tool with parents.

Lesson 3: Keep the board “in the know.”

Because of the detailed orientation given to the board during the 2011-12 school year, the board of education was not caught off guard when dozens of parents spoke during the public comment portion of meetings during the first year of implementation. During the orientation year, the entire school district deepened its understanding of the merits of these grading practices through reading background articles and the sharing of personal insights by teachers. The board and a parent advisory committee participated in interactive presentations involving teachers and high school students prior to adopting the new guidelines. When the merits of standards-based grading were challenged by parents during the first year of full use, the board’s knowledge allowed them to stand firm and instead ask administrators to ensure consistent communication and implementation rather than change course.