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Standards Based Grading

Standards Based Grading

Oct 03, 2010


In a Nutshell

  • Standards Based Grading (SBG) involves coming up with a list of standards (learning objectives) for the course. Students receive a grade on each individual objective with each objective being evaluated multiple times (how many times depends on both instructor and student motivation). A student’s grade on a given objective represents that student’s current level of understanding, thus new grades replace older grades, replace not average

Some Main Points

  • Erich uses a scale of 0-4 for each standard with 3 meaning that the student can do everything Erich has asked them to do and a 4 meaning the student has an advanced understanding.

  • “Point Accumulation” is discouraged thus things like homework, attendance and participation are not graded or are graded only very lightly.

  • Even though homework was not graded (not even for completion) 9-10 out of the 17 students in Erich’s summer class would regularly do the homework and look through the solutions Erich handed out each week.

  • Erich give a one question quiz at the start of every class to assess standards.

  • Erich uses the higher of the two most recent scores as the current score for each objective so that students still need to retain knowledge but are allowed a mistake without decreasing their grade.

  • Erich still gives a cumulative final exam at the end of the semester but he does not let the final exam influence grades on any of the standards (otherwise a student who bombs the final can really hurt his semester grade with a poor final score and several standards scores being pulled down).

  • You need to advertise the idea of re-assessments during office hours to students. These re-assessments promote learning and understanding but students aren’t automatically inclined to take advantage of them.

  • SBG improves your focus by forcing you to ask yourself “What concept is this question testing?” and “Is it question testing this concept in the way I want to test this concept” about every homework and quiz question you write.

  • SBG works well in classes where you can focus on big picture skills and don’t need to cover a laundry list of nitty-gritty details. Your list of standards for the semester should not be longer than about 30 or else you won’t have time to assess each standard multiple times.

Further Reading

  • Check out the full presentation here

  • The blog Think Thank Thunk gives examples of using SBG in high school physics and calculus classes.