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Improving Parent Communication through Exceptional Grading Practices

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Start at the Beginning

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Due to the pandemic, students were failing at higher rates throughout our State. Many districts including Rialto Unified adopted new grading practices such as no zero, no D/F, Insufficient Evidence of Master (IEM), evenly distributed grading scale, and the minimum graduation state requirement Spring 2020.

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Moving out of Spring 2020 and welcoming a new school year in Fall of 2020 we kept a evenly distributed grading scale in all secondary schools and the option to provide elementary aged students with an IEM instead of a D or F.

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PUT ON YOUR TEACHER HAT….WHAT IS THE GRADE ?

  • Quiz 1 – 10%
  • Quiz 2 – 50%
  • Quiz 3 – 70%
  • Unit Test – 85%

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What is the student’s grade?

    • A = 92 – 100 
    • B = 84 – 91 
    • C = 76 – 83 
    • D = 68 – 75
    • F = 67 and below

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Is this grade an accurate reflection of what the student is able to do now?

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WHY CHANGE?

“The answer is quite simple, grades are so imprecise that they are almost meaningless.”

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Robert Marzano

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WHY STANDARDS BASED GRADING?

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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF STANDARDS BASED GRADING?

  • The levels are more meaningful and clearer. What does a B tell you?

What does a Approaching Proficiency tell you?

  • All students have the opportunity to meet grade level expectations.
  • Parents will know exactly what is being taught and how their child is doing on those skills.
  • There is a focus on meeting grade level standards while giving students time to learn.
  • Allows for more consistency across grade levels.
  • Grade is a reflection of most recent student performance.

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SBG Benefits for Students

  • Learning targets are clearly defined and aligned with state standards.
  • Students are offered multiple opportunities and ways through which to demonstrate proficiency.
  • Students monitor their own progress toward the achievement of specific targets.
  • Specific feedback on progress helps build self-esteem, pride, and motivation for students.
  • Promotes a growth-mindset.Helps promote a culture of learning vs. earning, risk taking, and learning from mistakes

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SBG Benefits for Parents

  • Report cards are less mysterious and have more meaning.
  • More accurate representation of students learning and mastery of their learning.
  • Parents are aware of exactly what their child knows, and is able to do, and the next steps for progress.
  • Parents know in what areas their child needs more support.
  • Parents are empowered to increase their child’s confidence and help their student set goals.

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SBG Benefits for Teachers

  • Teachers know exactly where students stand in their progress towards learning targets and what support needs to be provided.
  • Aligned expectations and standards across grade levels in every subject.
  • Assessment results help teachers determine when students need extra help and when they need more challenging work.

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What will a new Elementary Report Card look like?

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What is the purpose of a Standards Based Grading Report Card and what will it look like?

The purpose of this report is to communicate with students and parents about the achievement of specific learning standards. Levels of progress reflect how well students have currently met the established learning standard(s) in the subject area or where additional focus and support is required.

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What is a SBG Report Card?

  • A standards-based report card tells specifically how a child is doing in regards to the grade level standards and helps to identify areas for improvement.
  • All teachers in a grade level measure student learning against set criteria that is the grade level standard.
  • Report card gives concrete information that the student, teacher, and parent can use to assist the student.
  • Report card separates academic performance from work habits and behaviors that support learning.

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STANDARDS BASED LEARNING PROGRESSIONS

NEW AT ELEMENTARY 2023/24

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(IE)

Insufficient Evidence of Proficiency

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(EP)

Emerging Proficiency

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(AP)

Approaching Proficiency

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(P)

Proficient

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Description

No evidence of mastery of any part of

the standard(s)

Beginning to show some mastery. Student cannot perform target without significant support.

Partial proficiency of target. Demonstrates partial understanding or can perform portions of the target.

Meets expectation of the target. Can perform target expectations independently.

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NEW ELEMENTARY REPORT CARD

Standards Report Card

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Class / Standards

Trimester 2 Grade

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

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Read fluently and accurately to comprehend grade level text

AP

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Ask and answer questions to better understand a text

AP

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Determine the main idea and key details of a text

P

Retell stories and determine the central message

AP

Write detailed narratives with a clear sequence of events

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AP

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English ( capitalization, punctuation, spelling)

EP

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Emerging Proficiency

Approaching Proficiency

Touchdown

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Proficient

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CLEAR TARGETS

Students can hit any target that they can see and that doesn’t move.

Rick Stiggins

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Secondary

Implementation modified grading scale for grade levels 6-12

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New Grade Scale

A

100-90

4

B

89-80

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C

79-70

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D

69-60

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F

59-50

0

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HOW DOES HOMEWORK FIT IN TO SBG?

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  • Reflects effort, not mastery of the concepts.
  • Gives independent practice for a skill or concept.
  • Allows for mistakes as part of the learning process.
  • Allows teacher an opportunity to give feedback.
  • Provides background information for upcoming lessons.

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Not Part of the report card grade.

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What’s Happened and What’s Next

  • Site level learning on Equitable Grading Practices: 2022
  • Educational Partners Roadshow- "The Why of SBG": 2022
  • Secondary Grading Practices Learning Committee: 2022
  • Continual professional development in SBG: 2022-23
  • Synergy changes to SBG :2023/24
  • Revise Board Policy : 2023/24
  • Elementary Report Card and Grading Committee: 2021/22
  • Grade Level Essential Standards Teams Meet 21/22
  • Continual SBG Professional Development :22/23
  • Synergy Gradebook/Report Card Preparation and Training : 2022/23
  • Revise Board Policy: 2022/23
  • Full SBG Implementation 2023/24 School Year

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Elementary

Secondary

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”By comparing one child’s performance to a clear standard, parents, children and teachers all know precisely what is expected. Every time a student attempts a task, the performance is compared to the standard, not to other children’s performances. The most important advantages for children and families are fairness, clarity, and improved learning.”

Doug Reeves

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SELF REFLECTION

What do you now know about standards based grading and reporting?

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What are the benefits to the new way of grading what a child’s knows and is able to do?

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What questions do you still have?