When I first learned about Uni’s math grading system in Math 2, I remember thinking: But why can’t it just be normal?? Compared to the other departments, who used the percentage scores, rubrics, and A-B-C-D-F letter grades to which I was accustomed, Uni’s math department’s grading system seemed unnecessarily complicated. Why had anyone chosen this over the simple, clear-cut option of traditional grading?
In itself, standards-based grading is a simple system, not much different from traditional grading. The difference, though, is that instead of seeing how many questions the student got right for a particular test or assignment, teachers look for how many of the core skills, or standards, the student has mastered. The student can then revise the remaining standards in order to relearn what they missed and bring up their score.
“It really focuses in on what the student is doing well on,” says Emily Buhnerkempe, Uni’s math department’s head teacher, “and what the student isn’t doing so well on… They use that to help them learn what to study and grow as a student.”
As with all things, there are also drawbacks to standards-based grading.
“One of the more challenging things about it is that reassessments take a long time for teachers,” Buhnerkempe explains. “We have to figure out a way to balance helping students through that process and managing things in terms of workload.”
Another obstacle is lack of continuity. To keep Uni’s school-wide grading system consistent, teachers in the math department have to convert students’ standards-based grades into traditional A-B-C-D-F letter grades. To do this, there’s a flowchart.
“The flowchart will show you how your grade will show up in PowerSchool,” says Buhnerkempe. “Like, you’ll need Es in these categories and Ms in those categories to get an A in the class, etc. For a lot of new students, it’s confusing… There are some schools that do standards-based grading for the entire school – they’re called standards-based schools – and they don’t have to convert.”
This begs the question – if these standards-based schools exist, why aren’t we one of them? If standards-based grading is so drastically better for students to learn, then shouldn’t Uni’s other departments use it, too?
“That’s a hard question to answer,” Buhnerkempe said. “I don’t know what every discipline is like, or what every department values. But I believe strongly that it’s the best thing for our students in the math department. There are some challenges with it, but I believe the benefits outweigh those challenges.”
