Lindsey Shelley
I love that students are empowered to take responsibility for their learning as they are able to identify where they are in their learning progression and steps needed to reach their goals. In this program, students are the leaders of their learning.
Andrea Bushman
Standard based learning has allowed me to become more focused as a teacher on the small steps that I want my students to accomplish. When large tasks are broken down into more manageable learning concepts, I feel that I can help all of my students succeed. Students feel empowered when they know exactly what they are learning and they are able to achieve their learning goals because they clearly know what is expected of them. Lastly, standard based grading provides me and my students with a clear understanding of how they are doing on each specific standard instead of an overall grade. I feel this provides parents and students with such valuable information.
Pamela Massey
I'll be honest: at first, I really hated Standards Based Grading because I was used to the traditional grading system. It was foreign to me and change is hard for me. However, my children have thrived with this system and now I LOVE IT! Each of my children struggle in different subjects and they would always stress out when they got a letter grade that wasn't an A. It made them feel terrible and like they were dumb. They were learning and growing, but that letter grade didn't reflect their hard work. One of my children has severe test anxiety and their grades always suffered because tests were weighted so heavily. Report cards were not their favorite thing as it reinforced to them that they weren't good enough. When they switched to Standards Based Grading, they were nervous, but they tried their best in their classes. Report card day came and there were no tears, no feeling inadequate, and no frustration. They were able to show me exactly what skills and concepts they knew and which ones they were still struggling with. Their whole outlook changed! They were empowered and in control of their learning. They put forth more effort on the skills and concepts they needed to improve on because they felt validated and recognized for the things they did know. It has also helped me as a parent to know what to focus on at home to help them more effectively.
Lafe Peavler
I’ve been teaching standards-based learning for almost three years. What I love about this system is that it gives me the opportunity to really determine where my students are in their journey toward mastering the state standards and make a personalized plan with them to make progress. I am more able to differentiate learning so that my advanced students can move ahead, and I can give students who need more or specialized attention what they need. Standards-based learning places the focus on learning and away from other things such as participation points. There’s no extra credit. Students can only improve their grade by proving to me that they’ve learned what they need to learn. Yet this system also offers students flexibility in how they prove to me that they’ve learned what they need to. I’ve seen some amazing works of scholarship and creativity that students might not have produced under a more traditional system.
Mike Connors
We all know the classic grade system has failed us. Learning is more than checking off a list of assignments that are quickly forgotten. Standards based grading remedies this by asking the students to “prove” what they have learned by assignments that are not graded simply by completion, but by comprehension of the specific areas being taught. This allows what is being taught to be better retained, and for the teachers to know specifically what gaps in understanding need to be addressed.
