Standards-Based Grading

Daniel Wright Jr. High implements a full standards-based grading (SBG) and reporting system across all grade levels and content areas.  Instead of offering a general overall indicator of performance, standards-based reporting provides teachers, parents, and students with detailed information on individual performance. With SBG, improvement and enrichment efforts can be more targeted and effective.  The standards-based grading model  provides a framework in which teachers can effectively give students feedback; and, in turn the students can learn how to use the feedback in ways that develop their learner attributes.

One of the critical attributes of a properly implemented standards-based grading and assessment program is its potential to support teachers and students, who are learning to learn. These learner attributes, specifically articulated in the district’s Vision 2025 planning, are displayed as a core set of competencies identified as the “Portrait of a Graduate.”  The competencies do not center on academic achievement; rather, they center on learner behaviors that align to the 21st century skills the school hopes to develop in students.  Standards-based grading helps students and teachers think about thinking and learning. Students develop an awareness of what they are doing, where they are going, and how they are going to get there. By learning the skills of self-assessment, self-monitoring, and self-directed learning, students are effective stewards of their own learning.