Mrs. McCutchen's Class

Standards Based Grading

STANDARDS BASED GRADING

I will be using standards-based grading (SBG) this year. With SBG, every assessment will be used to determine student mastery of content. The progress and growth of each students will be the focus.


Also with SBG, every assessment, assignment, and activity is linked to a learning target. A learning target is a statement of the important skills and concepts that students will master within a unit.


For every unit, students will take a pre-assessment, a short formative assessment for each learning target, a mid-chapter assessment, an end of chapter assessment, and a post assessment.

Types of Assessments

Pre-Assessments

Students will take a pre-assessment at the beginning of each chapter to determine their mastery of the learning targets. The pre-assessment will be divided into the different learning targets for chapter..


Short Formative Assessments for each Target

Students will take a short formative assessment after each learning target. These assessments will typically be one problem but no more than three problems. Each assessment will be based on a learning target and will allow me to see if students have mastered each learning target..


Mid-Chapter Assessment

The mid-chapter assessment will given when half of the learning targets have been learned. This assessment will allow me to see how many targets students have mastered halfway through the chapter.


End of Chapter Assessment

The end of chapter assessment will be given at the end of the chapter after all the learning targets have been learned. This assessment will allow me to see how many targets students have mastered at the end of the chapter. This assessment will also serve as review before the post-assessment.


Post-Assessment

Students will take post-assessment at the end of the chapter to determine their overall mastery of learning targets. The post-assessment will be divided into the different learning targets for the chapter.

Levels of Mastery

Instead of grades, students will receive levels of mastery on their various assessments. These levels will help students determine their area of need and next steps.



Level 1: All questions are incorrect. There are some questions where students have not shown work.


Level 1.5: All questions are incorrect. Work is shown for ALL questions.


Level 2: Some questions are incorrect and some questions are correct. There are some questions where students have not shown work.


Level 2.5: Some questions are incorrect and some questions are correct. Work is shown for ALL questions.


Level 3: All questions are correct. There are some questions where students have not shown work.


Level 3.5: Most questions are correct. Incorrect answers are because of simple mistakes. Work is shown for ALL questions.


Level 4: All answers are correct. Work is shown for ALL questions.

Next Steps based on the Levels

Level 1: Need More Help—This level is for students who do not yet know the content. Students at this level will be re-taught content and do additional practice in order to understand the content.


Level 2: Almost There—This level is for students who know some of the content but not all. Students at this level will receive guided practice, will be re-taught as needed, and do additional practice in order to understand the content.


Level 3: Simple Mistake—This level is for students who know the majority of the content but have made simple mistakes. Students at this level will receive help in identifying their mistakes and individual practice to check for understanding.


Level 4: Have It—This level is for students who know all of the content. Students at this level will receive extension activities to further their understanding.

Grades in Infinite Campus

When you look in Infinite Campus, you will see the individual learning targets that students will be learning for each chapter and you will see the levels of mastery, either a 1, 2, 3, or 4 for each target.


Levels 3 and 4 are acceptable and means that students know enough of the content to be successful. Levels 1 and 2 means that students need to be re-taught and/or do more practice.


Some of this practice will be done during class but you can always contact me to have your child stay after school to do more practice. Students can stay after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.


The only number grade that will be put into Infinite Campus will be from the post-assessment. Students will still receive levels of mastery for the post-assessment but those will be translated into a number grade using the following scale.


Level 1-60

Level 1.5-65

Level 2-70

Level 2.5-75

Level 3-80

Level 3.5-90

Level 4-100


For example, there are 6 learning targets on a post-assessment. A student receives the following levels of mastery for each target:

Target 1-3

Target 2-2.5

Target 3-2

Target 4-3.5

Target 5-4

Target 6-4


The number score they would get for each target would be the following:

Target 1-80

Target 2-75

Target 3-70

Target 4-90

Target 5-100

Target 6-100


These scores would then be averaged together to find the grade for the post-assessment.

80 + 75 + 70 + 90 + 100 + 100 = 515

515/6 = 85.8 or 86


For this post-assessment, the student would receive an 86.