What is standards-based grading (SBG)?

— A brief description will eventually appear here. It will talk about: Multiple data points. More useful, pinpointed feedback. Remediation. Students see progress. Stress level, motivation level. Feedback instead of judgement. Etc.

My physics standards

Here is the historical list of standards (school year 2012 – 2013) for my classes. It includes lists for my Honors (sophomores and some juniors) and Regular (juniors) physics classes. The standards are grouped by model.

I am hoping to post a new list for my current classes (school year 2015 – 2016) this fall.

My particular SBG implementation

I used to use a flavor of SBG called Conjunctive Standards-Based Grading.

— A brief summary will eventually appear here.

I am currently using 5, 6, 8, 10 SBG.

Other best SBG posts on this blog

Usefulness of Test Corrections
Effort vs. Luck (Learning and Assessment Flow Chart)
Monkey Monkey Monkey (Or, will students take tests seriously if they can do them again?)
Choose your Test Flavor (On folding student choice into in-class assessments/reassessments)
Managing Extra Tests (On out-of-class assessments/reassessments)
— Original post (fall, 2011)
— Update (spring, 2012)
— Bundled Objectives (2012 school year idea)
Standards-Based Grading in a Points-Based World (Fitting SBG ideas into a system that requires points and continuously calculated grades)
Offside Assessments (How many standards do you test at once, and how do you test them?)

Student feedback (Course Evaluations)

Don’t just take it from me. Hear what students in SBG physics classes think—

I think it is fair because it is really who works the hardest gets the better grade, so it is no one’s fault but your own when you do badly.

It has made me become more conscious of how much I need to practice things before I move on to be able to fully understand them.

I don’t feel left behind in this class because I know there are opportunities outside of class to improve my grade.

I think this grading system is good because it shows whether or not we actually understand the material. For example, you can’t see what you don’t understand if you get a 78%, but a 1 shows that you obviously don’t have a firm grasp of the material.

I absolutely LOVE the new grading system. It’s highly, highly conducive to learning. I am usually very number driven and end up putting a lot of pressure on myself to achieve a certain number; the grade is my priority. With this system, I am focused on the material – what really matters. I work harder in class because I want to understand everything fully instead of slacking off in certain places because I know that my number grade will survive it.

I love it. I never realized until this year (when I was forced to think about the logic of the class grading system), but it makes absolutely NO SENSE to get a bad grade for not knowing something perfectly when you first do it. That’s just ridiculous to expect. Also, if I actually LEARN through the school year, and know the material really well by the end (LEARNING- what I thought we were encouraged to be doing), we are still brought down because we didn’t, at some point, know it. Doesn’t that make it seem like even if you actually improve and learn over the course of the year, you’ll still be treated like you don’t understand it partially? Stupid. Basically, I LOVE this grading system, despite how frustrating it can be when it doesn’t work in favor of my grade because it’s always in favor of my learning.

January 2011
January 2012
May 2012

Other Links

Here is the entire SBG category archive of this website.

— Other links will eventually appear here.