To: Parents and Guardians of PCSST students
From: The Language Arts Department – PCSST
STANDARDS BASED GRADING
Dear parents,
This letter is meant to provide you with some of the basic information on the new grading system of PCSST which will be fully implemented by the Language Arts and Math departments, and partially implemented by the rest of the departments at the start of the 2017-2018 school year. More detailed information about the new grading system – called Standards Based Grading will be provided during parent workshops at the school for which you will be informed accordingly.
Standards Based Grading is a revolutionized way of measuring our students’ success that focuses on how well the student has mastered the learning goal (or standard). It is mainly student focused assessment which is meant to help students take ownership and be more accountable of their learning. On one hand, this will allow teachers to determine student strengths and weaknesses and modify their instruction to address each individual student’s needs more effectively. On the other hand, it will allow students to see what particular skill they need to work on in order to improve and to master the learning goal.
In order to measure the student’s progress towards the learning goal, and his/her level of mastery of the standard, two categories of assessment were created in the database (SIS) – Formative assessment, and Summative assessment. Formative assessments measure the student’s progress toward mastering the skill. These include: homework, classwork, exit tickets, bell work, and quizzes. Summative assessments measure how well the student has mastered the skill, and tell us what he/she needs to do to improve. These include: tests, unit exams, benchmarks, projects, and some quizzes. On the database (SIS), summative assessments carry more weight. This year:
- Formative assessments will account for 20% of the student’s overall grade
- Summative assessments will account for 70% of the student’s overall grade
- Writing assessments will account for 10% of the student’s overall grade
Every assessment will be scored with a grading rubric on a scale from 0 to 4. This is what the rubric will look like in general terms:
Score | Evidence |
4 (100) | The student shows outstanding demonstration of skills and knowledge |
3 (85) | The student performs all the skills and demonstrates the knowledge that is expected but is not extending beyond the standard. |
2 (60) | The student performs the basic skills and demonstrates basic knowledge of the content |
1 (40) | The student performs the basic skills, but only with scaffolding or assistance |
0 (0) | The student cannot perform, or does not attempt to perform the skills even with assistance |
However, in the gradebook on the database, you will not see scores of 0-4. There will still be grades between 0-100, and students will still receive letter grades. The 5 grades from the rubric will translate into the following grades in the database:
Score on rubric | Grade in the database |
4 | 100 |
3 | 85 |
2 | 60 |
1 | 40 |
0 | 0 |
*** Please note that 2 (60) is a passing grade.
*** Attached for you is a version of the general rubric in Spanish
*** Attached for you is a sample rubric for an assessment
*** If student wants to retake a summative assessment to improve their score, they may do so only if they have turned in all of the formative assessments (homeworks, classwork etc.)
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION AND CLARIFICATION FEEL FREE CONTACT YOUR CHILD’S TEACHER!
