Six Tips for Implementing a Standards-Based Grading Model

Standards-based grading models help educators accurately track student progress

As educators today focus on teaching students specific skills and concepts, more and more school districts are pivoting from traditional grading systems to a standards-based grading model. Traditional gradebooks fall short of answering the critical questions of what students know, have learned, and can do as a result of instruction, especially in a remote or hybrid learning environment.

Standards-based grading systems evaluate students on their mastery of specific goals, skills, or standards. They help educators, parents, and students clearly identify gaps in achievement and decide what additional work needs to be done. In a traditional A-F model, this insight may not be as apparent.

Recording grades of each assignment can be tedious and inefficient, especially considering that homework and in-class assignments are often used to practice and achieve mastery of those standards. Instead, grade the student’s level of understanding of each standard by choosing which assignments will be used formally to assess student progress toward each learning goal.

A helpful way for you to make the mental shift from traditional grading systems to standards-based grading systems is to begin organizing your gradebook by standards or learning goals rather than by assignment or unit. Remember to communicate this grading shift to students and their families. It takes time to build a culture where students and families value the work for the learning itself and not for the grade.

In a traditional system, all grades during the marking period are averaged together. However, that average grade may be low relative to what the student knows right now. If a student has been progressing throughout the grading period, their scores will rise toward the end. So, later assignments should be given more weight because they are the most representative of the student’s current performance level.

Another way to weigh grades is to establish a retake policy. The key to a successful retake policy is to communicate its structure and purpose. This will avoid incentivizing purposeful first-time failures while remaining student-centered.² Retakes place more focus on learning and growth by weighing a student’s final grade in terms of their best results instead of a one-shot summative assessment. Focusing on learning and development is especially important as students return to in-person school and need to accelerate learning gains.

In a traditional 100-point scale, successfully demonstrating the expected behaviors of school—punctual attendance, demonstrating respect toward the classroom teacher, class participation, completing homework on time, and other school-related soft skills—commonly translates into a good grade. While work habits and classroom behavior are certainly important, they should be marked separately from academic achievement in a standards-based grading model.

Grading by goals and standards rather than the traditional percentage-based system can feel like an overwhelming shift at first. However, this transition can be smoothed with interoperable technology seamlessly integrating the learning management system, online gradebook, and classroom resource center.

With today’s focus on personalized learning, data-driven instruction, and the importance of closing learning gaps, there is a great need for an assessment model that accurately reflects student growth and achievement. The standards-based grading model can be an effective tool for educators to support student development for longer-term success.

1. DuFour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of learning: How district, school, and classroom leaders improve student achievement. Solution Tree Press.
2. Cutler, D. (2019, May 28). Tips for allowing test retakes. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/tips-allowing-test-retakes