Suppose a student has earned a 75 in your class. How do you describe that student's progress? What has that student learned in your class? Obviously a student with an 85 has done better than the student with a 75, but what exactly has the 85 student achieved that the other student has not? Is it ten percent more understanding? Two more homework assignments during the quarter? Perhaps most importantly, what can the 75 student do to become an 85 student?
Grades are part of our school culture and likely aren't going anywhere soon. We can work to tweak how we generate and communicate the meaning of those grades in a way that better represents what students have actually learned. One approach for doing this is called Standards Based Grading, or SBG.
In this one hour workshop, you will learn about SBG and how it can clarify the meaning of grades, as well as how it can be implemented effectively within a traditional reporting system. You will also learn how a SBG mindset encourages productive changes to the process of planning units, activities, and assessments. We will also discuss the ways such a system can be run in the context of various subject areas.