Standards Based Grading

Gunston Middle School began the journey of reviewing our grading practice in the spring of 2018-19 school year.  Our mentor text was Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms (2019) by Joe Feldman.  As a result of our study, one inequitable practice that was eliminated for the 2019-2020 school year was offering extra-credit to students.

Our study of our grading practices continued during the 2019-2020 school year.  Four additional bias-resistant practices were agreed upon: 1) Homework would not be calculated into a student’s grade; 2) Students would be able to submit graded assignments after the due date without penalty, a conversation between student and teacher would be required to determine the new deadline; 3) Students would have the opportunity to revise/redo work for mastery until the end of the quarter; and 4) for those teachers using a 100 point scale, 50% would be the minimum grade.

At the end of the 2019-2020 school year, we asked the teaching community for volunteers, interested in participating in a pilot of standards based-grading during the 2020-2021 school year.  The response was overwhelmingly positive!  We received permission from the Department of Teaching and Learning to participate in a school-wide standards-based grading pilot for the 2020-2021 school year.

On this web page, we will share information about our standards-based grading pilot during this school year.

• Standards Based Grading Presentation Slides – Family Orientation Night – October 22nd, 2020

• Noche de Orientación para las Familias – 23 de Octubre 2020 (Español)