Standards-Based Grading

Today, my students completed their second formative assessment.  They didn't do terrible, but they didn't do as well as I'd like them to.  So the question is, what to do now?  As outlined in my recent post about homework, I would like to give students an assignment to do with the items missed to earn a re-take.  However, the conversation soon developed into one about standards-based teaching and testing.  With this approach, our formative would be just that - a formative.  It is intended to be an indicator of student progress, both for students and myself.  Their grade would come from the ultimate testing of knowledge on the summative assessment given at the end of the quarter.  Thus, the message from this test, the formative, would be to show students what they still need to work on in order to master the material and achieve success on the summative assessment.  In the meantime, I will be able to move on with new material for students that are ready, while reviewing old material and giving students activities they can do to review on their own.  The expectation is that students will be responsible to learn the material and master it by the summative assessment.

Though we didn't explicitly label it that way, our grading system is already well on its way to becoming standard-based.  Though we're still using a traditional grading system of A through F, our categories are broken down to reflect what students can do - read, write, speak, and listen, as well as include a small culture and citizenship grade.  Thus, students can see within their grade what skill they need work on.  In addition, the TPRS methodology is based upon developing these skills and treats language as a skill-based subject in which proficiency should be measured.  However, I would like to come up with a fully comprehensive curriculum and methodology that is present in all areas of my teaching.  This involves my curriculum, methods, assessments, assignments, etc.  The most difficult part, I believe, will be determining how to connect the proficiency-based skill to the grades that most schools and parents expect and are able to interpret.  However, with a little more research, I'll be well on my way!  I'm beginning to collect resources and ideas on how to implement standards-based teaching in my classroom and develop a comprehensive plan.  I'm excited to see where it goes!