Standards Based Grading & Report Cards

"Why would anyone want to change current grading practices?

The answer is quite simple: Grades are so imprecise that they are almost meaningless.” (Marzano 20001)

Since the State of Illinois and Evanston/Skokie 65 have implemented new learning standards and new curricula in many subjects, District 65 has not updated grading, assessing, and reporting that mirror updated practices in classrooms. Current Illinois learning standards are rigorous, and while the District has worked to implement standards-aligned curricula, our District has yet to systemically address how student learning and mastery of standards is assessed, graded, and reported.

Many experts in education from around the world (Dylan William, Doug Reeves, Myron Dueck, Thomas Guskey, Ken O’Connor, Susan Brookhart, and Robert Marzano) have found that the most effective grading practices provide accurate, effective, and timely feedback to improve student performance. The traditional grading system reduces everything a student does into a single letter grade that is neither timely nor actionable.

The single letter grade has so many academic and nonacademic variables attached to it. These variables differ from teacher to teacher and school to school. Standards-based grading provides District 65 with the opportunity to unravel some of the variables attached to grades and place them appropriately and consistently.

Students who experience standards-based grading in K-8 are prepared for high school, even if their high school teachers continue to use a more traditional system, because they are aware of the content knowledge and skills they have achieved, and because they are pushed to become more independent learners who take more responsibility for their learning.

“A standards-based report card identifies the specific learning goals within the curriculum so that appropriate rigor can be ensured. It also communicates more detailed information about higher levels of success. These distinct benefits serve to prepare students well, no matter what type of learning environment they enter after they leave school.” (Guskey & Bailey 2017).

• Allows students, teachers, and parents/guardians to gauge each student’s progress per standard
• Represents more accurate representation of student’s knowledge and skills at each rotation/trimester
• Provides multiple chances for students to show what they know
• Limits the chance of penalizing students for mistakes made during the learning process
• Increases consistency in grading policies and criteria across teachers and schools

• Standards-based grading focuses on a student’s progress toward meeting grade-level standards rather than a simple accumulation of points.
• It uses a symbolic scale that in our case uses letter combinations to refer to where students are on their learning journey (EX, ME, PR, BE) rather than a letter scale (A, B, C, D, F).
• To earn the highest mark of a “EX”, students must demonstrate exceptional understanding of the standard, not just general understanding of the standard, requiring students to show they can think more deeply and tackle more complex problems on their assignments with consistency and independence.
• It is less subject to being influenced by non-academic behaviors, such as tardiness or not speaking up in class.
• Grades are determined by each student’s ability to meet standards; not by how he or she compares to other students in the class. All students are expected to meet or exceed standards. Course grades are not based “on a curve”; all of the students that meet high standards can receive high grades.

• It is important to understand that an EX in standards-based grading is not the same as earning an “A” in the traditional system.
• Evanston/Skokie School District defines an EX as “Exceeds the rigor of the end-of-term standard consistently and independently across a variety of contexts.” This means that students need to be able to extend the grade level learning in a manner that shows they are transferring and applying the learning independently to different learning contexts. Examples of actions that may demonstrate skills aligned to “EX” include demonstrating they have a greater understanding by elaborating on their answers, solving more challenging problems, or showing connections between varying concepts that they have made on their own.
• Some students may find this aspect of standards-based grading more challenging since “going above and beyond the minimum standard” may take extra effort and persistence.

• In a Standards-Based Grading system, a student’s grade depends on showing mastery of the standards. Completing the assigned work is important to a student’s learning, but assignments will be graded based on what a student is able to show what they know.
• Grades determined in our standards-based grading system more accurately show what students know and can do.
• If a student completes all assigned work but is unable to demonstrate mastery of the content knowledge, the student will not receive an EX or ME. They may receive PR (Progressing) if they are growing towards grade level proficiency in the skill or BE (Beginning) if they are working on acquiring the foundational skills that will help students grow towards the skill. 

• If a student earns a BE (Beginning), it means that he/she completed and submitted enough evidence to assess the student's performance towards the reporting standard. The work shows that they are beginning to demonstrate the learning that will support the student to get to grade level, but they are not yet making progress in the grade level learning. It is important that the student reviews this standard and works with the teacher to identify their next steps and receive further instruction to prepare for the next assessment or a retake opportunity.
• An IE (Insufficient Evidence) is given when there is not enough evidence for a teacher to assess a student’s understanding or progress towards standards. Typically, this means that a student did not turn in or complete an assessment or assignment. If a student earns an IE, they need to speak to their teacher immediately to determine if they can still turn in or redo the assessment in question; or complete an alternate assessment to make up the grade.
• A blank or empty cell on the report card indicates that a standard is not assessed that quarter. There is no action that needs to be taken on the part of the student. With multiple standards throughout the year, not all are assessed each quarter.

Standards based grades are meant to report a student's ability to know and do what academic standards require of them at their grade level. As District 65 built our standards based report card, we committed to reporting progress on the standard at the end of each term. 

Early in the year, the expectation of what a student can do in relation to a standard may be lower and then the demand or complexity of the learning later in the year.  A student could be meeting the expectation of the standard at the end of trimester one, yet the demand of the learning may grow and become more complex by the end of trimester two. This could lead to a student still being proficient in trimester one learning but not yet proficient in the newer, more complex demonstration of the standard at the end of trimester two. Please see the example below and you can refer to the reporting standards and learning targets.

Reporting Standard for 2nd Grade Math: Uses an understanding of place value to create hundreds, to read and write numbers to 1000, to compare three-digit numbers, and to count by 1s, 5s, 10s, and 100s (2.NBT.1-4)

In a standards-based grading system, meeting standards typically means that a student is proficient at that standard. Meets means that the student has a solid understanding of the content and can apply their knowledge to various contexts. In other words, they are performing as expected by the grade level standards.

Extending standards, on the other hand, typically means that a student has gone beyond demonstrating grade level proficiency and has shown an ability to apply their knowledge in more complex and challenging ways. It's important to note that extending standards are not required for students to be performing at grade level. Students are welcome to challenge themselves if they are meeting standards to determine if they can extend their learning. Some students might extend in some standards at some point at their grade level.

When you review your child’s report card, you want to look at two big areas:

First you want to see how well your child is going about their learning in school. These are called learning habits. A child does not pass or fail on learning habits. They work to improve.  If your child is at beginning (BE) or progressing (PR), look at our District website to learn more about our learning habits and you may also wish to review this family resource that provides questions you can ask your student to start conversations about how to build stronger learning habits.

How to help your Child Succeed at School, New York Times

Strong learning habits are a foundation to support learning academic content like claims, evidence and reasoning or algebraic relationships.  Learning habits are critically important for success in school and the jobs of the future which are becoming increasingly based on collaboration, creativity, communication and problem solving.  Growth in learning habits (moving from Beginning to Progressing or Progressing to Meeting) should be celebrated and means that your child is getting stronger at how they go about their learning.

Second, you want to review your child’s academic learning measures. These tell you if your child is meeting grade level expectations (ME = Meeting on the report card) in the academic areas of their learning.  Meeting communicates that your child has met the academic learning at this time in the year and is meeting expectations for this grade level.   If your child is at beginning (BE) or progressing(PR), the report card and family learning target resources provide specific information on what your child is not yet able to do consistently and with independence.  The focus is to seek out learning opportunities and practice to grow the student’s learning to meet the expectation.

Growth in academic learning measures (moving from Beginning to Progressing or Progressing to Meeting) should be celebrated and means that your child is better prepared to meet or extend grade level expectations.

Retaining a child (failing a course) is rare in District 65 and the decisions are always done in consultation with the family and in alignment with our Board Policy 6:280.  If you have concerns about whether your child is in good standing to go on to the next grade level, please contact your school principal.

Course Placement:
Currently, ETHS primarily relies on a student's MAP score for initial course placement in math and literacy and language arts classes including reading and math support.  Please check the ETHS website for their course placement process.

District 65 is deepening our commitment to standards based learning and grading in order to drive greater levels of learning and growth for our students. This shift builds on the positive effect sizes of teacher and student clarity as well as student agency in learning. The overarching goal is to have all of our students better prepared for ETHS academically and in the areas of learning habits.

Taking Responsibility for Your Learning: 
A second benefit of standards based learning and grading is that there is a clear and specific focus on building strong academic habits that are aligned to our District 65 Portrait of a Graduate, 21st century learning skills and executive functioning. By separating the process of learning feedback from what a student can know and do, students, families and teachers are better able to see the strengths and areas for growth with accuracy.  Plans can then be put into place to support growth and development in these areas as well as to build off of a student's strengths.

In standards based learning and grading, a student is supported in developing a growth mindset and student agency.  If a student has not YET demonstrated their learning at the level desired, they are supported to engage in more practice until they can demonstrate that they have learned the concepts at an appropriate level of complexity.

This awareness of what you need to learn and taking the necessary steps to do it is a valuable skill that can be used in accessing the Wildkit Academy and ETHS educators. Additionally, the development of learning habits supports success in ETHS and beyond. 

The goal for our students is to demonstrate that they are MEETING our challenging grade level expectations. Demonstrating MEETING means that your child has been able to not only demonstrate this area of learning at grade level expectations but they can do this consistently and with independence. A student who can do this should be well prepared to be successful in the next grade level and beyond.  

The State of Illinois and District 65 hold a very high bar for what it means to demonstrate that you are meeting grade level State expectations. 

In order to demonstrate that a student is EXTENDING, the student must demonstrate that they also meet the demand of the grade level standard with a greater level of complexity with independence. Because of the nature of different disciplines, a greater level of complexity may look different across content areas.  Examples include: 

In literacy, this means a students is able to:

• Either demonstrate mastery of a subset of standard(s) by reading a more complex text related to the topic of study OR
• Shows a deeper understanding of identified standards through tasks of deeper complexity (on identified end of unit assessments) 

In math, students will demonstrate that they can engage in and complete extensions that are of a high level of cognitive complexity or that blend math standards together elevating the level of challenge.

In science, students who extend use more complex aspects of the science and engineering practices to communicate an understanding of the phenomena and grade-level content (disciplinary core ideas) being explored in class.

In social sciences, students demonstrate the ability to extend through activities or strategies (i.e independent research, cross curricular connections, debates & discussions, PBL.) that go beyond the core curriculum and aim to deepen students' understanding of the subject, through active engagement, and cultivating critical thinking skills that go beyond the standard.

This complexity means the student has gone beyond a typical or expected level of learning for the course.

Your student must first focus on demonstrating their ability to meet the learning targets. Meeting is a high bar and should be celebrated. Students who are meeting have met the grade level expectations at this point in the school year. If the student is demonstrating this with consistency and independence while still in the unit of study, an educator will make opportunities available to extend learning.

Our website is the best reference to better understand the learning measures and the report card. We have included information about the learning measures below.

The focus of our new way of reporting learning for students, families and educators is "to provide report card grades that are meaningful, accurate, and actionable for students, their families and educators.”

In a traditional grading system, students are given a combined grade based on their overall performance in a course. This includes their content knowledge, known as the product of learning and how they learn as students, known as the process of learning.

In a standards-based grading system, students are assessed separately on their mastery of learning standards and the process of learning. These two measures are reported separately.  In this new grading system, your child's product of learning grades reflects their proficiency in each reporting standard, rather than an overall grade for the course.

We do not roll up the grades to one grade because it makes what a student can know and do less clear.

Learning targets are written to capture what students are expected to be able to do aligned to the report card descriptor.