Standards-Based Grading

• In Event: 100 Years of Grading Research: Meaning and Value in the Most Common Educational Measure

Abstract

Objective: To review research on standards-based grading (SBG), a communication tool in which report card grades express the extent to which students master grade level standards, a relatively new and increasingly common practice (Grindberg, 2014). SBG requires teachers to report student performance on the key standards that must be attained at each grade level (e.g., adding fractions, computing area) in lieu of content area grades (e.g., reading, mathematics, science), using a polytomous scale that reports descriptive levels of achievement in a similar manner to the performance level descriptors generated by state tests (e.g., Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, Advanced).
Method and Data Sources. The Psychinfo, Psycharticles, ERIC, and Education Source databases were searched using the terms “standards” and (“grades” or “reports) and “education,” yielding 1,891 papers. Articles were reviewed to identify papers that addressed some aspect of standards and grading in elementary and secondary education in mainstream classrooms. Seventeen works reported on research in the area of standards-based grading and were selected for this review.
Results and Conclusions. Eight works report on attempts to implement SBG and comment on areas where practice converges with and diverges from theory. The earliest work by Clarridge and Whitaker (1994) described development and implementation efforts in the Tucson Unified School District, which piloted a rubric-based grading system to improve consistency in grading practices districtwide. Initial learnings from the pilot were as follows: 1) both parents and teachers must thoroughly understand the curriculum to successfully use SBG; 2) the central office must play an active role in supporting SBG implementation; and 3) communication is key to parental understanding and acceptance.
McMunn, Schenck & McColskey (2003) also studied early implementation of standards-based grades, focusing on efforts in a school district in Florida between 1999 and 2001. Teachers indicated on surveys that they implemented standards-based grading practices. Student focus groups and classroom observations seemed to indicate, however, that standards-based practices were less widespread than teachers claimed.
Other researchers (Cox, 2011; Hay & Macdonald, 2008; Russell & Austin, 2010; Simon et al., 2010; Tierney, Simon & Charland, 2011) also examined standards-based grading practices with teachers who had implemented grading reform, and found that teachers varied tremendously in their implementation of standards-based reforms.
Two studies (Guskey, 2004; Swan, Guskey & Jung, 2014) investigated parents and students’ perceptions of standards-based grades These studies found that parents attempted to interpret nearly all labels in terms of letter grades and that, while teachers favor standards-based grades, they required more work to implement than traditional grading.
Eight studies (Howley, Kusimo, & Parrott, 1999; Ross & Kostuch, 2011; Klapp Lekholm, 2011; Klapp Lekholm & Cliffordson, 2008, 2009; Thorsen & Cliffordson, 2012; Welsh & D’Agostino, 2009; Welsh, D’Agostino, & Kaniskan, 2013) addressed whether standards-based grades were consistent with state standards-based assessment scores, since they purport to measure the same skills and are often expressed on the same scale. All found moderate correlations and the inclusion of at least some degree of non-cognitive or judgmental component in standards-based grades.

Authors

• Megan E. Welsh, University of California - Davis

• Michael Terrence Stevens, University of California - Davis