Blog Seven - Standards-Based Grading
Grades and grading have always been a highly controversial topic in education. Standards-based grading (SBG) is an alternative to percentages-based grading, focusing on student mastery against specific standards. Instead of using a letter or percentage grade, SBG gives learners a level of proficiency ranging from one (emerging or developing) to four (mastered). The aim is to provide an accurate system for assessing whether a learner is proficient at a particular skill or set of skills. Students under SBG will hopefully be able to focus less on grades and more on their mastery of a concept. Learners can focus more on which skills they need to improve on rather than a grade. This system has received attention from many schools, with some opposing and some supporting it. There are many benefits and pitfalls of SBG, which we will discuss in this paper, leaving it up to the reader to decide whether or not the benefits outweigh the pitfalls.
SBG helps students have a “mastery mindset” for their learning. Rather than focusing on the marks they receive on an assignment, SBG focuses on their content knowledge and skill proficiency. Therefore, students would no longer rely on external motivation like grades or praise for good results. As written in Standards-Based Grading: Definition, Benefits & Comparison With Traditional Grading, by Research, “[Students] also learn to take ownership of their learning, which is shown in the way that they want to meet all learning standards set for them to achieve.” SBG allows the focus to extend beyond what they “got wrong” and be able to shift into what they have mastered and need to build on. This takes some pressure off of learner who are already under great stress due to school and growing up in general and can even help boost their self-esteem and confidence. Plus, the focus on mastering skills can foster a school system where students are passionate about learning and the content they are being taught. This can better the school experience for the upcoming education, making acquiring knowledge seem like an opportunity rather than a punishment. Being a lifelong learner would also help them with their future careers so that they can get even more out of their school experience.
The other side of the argument is that the SBG puts too much pressure on educators, especially from the very beginning, in the form of too many demands. They must determine thresholds for standards, create grading rubrics taking these new standards into account, and readjust tests with the SBG categories in mind. An article published by Strobel Education called Exploring the Pros and Cons of Standards-Based Grading Systems, “Transitioning away from a traditional system can be challenging for … staff members responsible for implementing SBG.” Both the transition and the maintenance of SBG provide a lot of work for teachers, who have less time to analyze these grades and determine which students need extra support. Additionally, every assignment requires a specific rubric for what counts as a “mastery” (4) compared to an “approaching mastery” (2). This complicates the process for students, parents, and educators.
SBG has many perks to it, but these perks come with many cons. It promotes mastery-based learning and intrinsic motivation. Students can become lifelong learners. Nonetheless, it puts too much stress on our educators, taking away their availability for valuable teaching opportunities. There may also be a way to receive some of the benefits of SBG, like the intrinsic motivation mentioned above. In actuality, the way we grade doesn’t have as much to do with student success as the values we instill in our students.
