“What do you mean you don’t grade homework?” Have you heard this question before? What about, “How is my kid going to be prepared for college if they can turn in late work?” Many parents don’t understand standards based grading. Some even petition against it, begging schools, “Do not take away the reward for rigor, hard work, and participation in the classroom!” It’s hard to blame them. Most parents grew up in traditional grading systems and it’s all they know. It is our role as teachers and administrators to communicate our grading practices to students and families.
Many teachers will introduce themselves and their grading policies at the beginning of the school year through a newsletter or a video. If you choose to take this route, here’s what you should include.
The Purpose of Equitable Grading
Give a brief explanation for why equitable grading practices, like standard based grading (SBG) are best for students. Make sure to emphasize that the purpose of departing from traditional grading systems is to empower students and deepen learning. You might say something like,
“My goal is to empower students to show growth in a variety of areas, making it easier to set goals, track them, advocate for help along the way, and celebrate progress as they go.”
Perhaps even point to some research or further reading parents could do if they are interested.
Define Equitable Grading
Make sure to explain what standards based grading is so that parents will be able to understand and interpret the reports you’ll be sending about student learning. You could say something like:
“Standards-based grading measures your student’s mastery of a set of clearly defined learning targets called standards. It communicates how well your student understands the course material. Within a class, the material covered in each unit is divided into identified standards and learning objectives. The goal is to identify what your student understands or can demonstrate, in relation to the defined standards – as opposed to averaging scores over the course of the grading period. Throughout the year students are assessed to see if they truly know the material using a variety of tools.
This approach will provide your student, his or her teacher and you as accurate a picture as possible of his or her learning. Additionally, as your student’s understanding of the material evolves, further assessments will provide new information regarding his or her conceptualization of the content.”
Comparison with Traditional Grading
Help parents understand the differences between your grading practices and what they are used to. This will provide additional rationale from the shift. You could say something like:
“In traditional grading systems, student’s grades are typically based on the student’s performance averaged together. These include work assigned and non-academic factors, such as preparation, participation, and effort.
Early assessment scores that may have been low would traditionally be averaged with later scores that reflect a better understanding of the material. This would create a lower overall grade than might accurately reflect a student’s current mastery. Similarly, a student’s exceptional work on a project in an area the student has evident mastery, would not be averaged into the grade in a way that inaccurately hides gaps in other areas of the curriculum.
This system is prioritizing the most recent and consistent performance by the student based on the individual standards. Students who may struggle at the beginning of a unit when first learning the new material, will still be able to demonstrate mastery by the end of a year.”
Paint a Picture
Make sure parents have a picture for what a report on learning will actually look like. Provide a sample scenario along with screenshots, pictures, and an interpretation or your grade book and/or progress reports. You might say something like:
“For graded assessments, your student will receive a mastery score reflecting his or her mastery of the standards covered. These grades will be recorded in the MasteryBook along with the identified standards. This grading system should facilitate more detailed and accurate ongoing feedback.
At the end of the year, you will receive a printed copy of your student’s progress in the MasteryBook along with his or her traditional grade card. You will see a grade for both math and science on the grade card that becomes part of his or her official records through MyBackPack.
We wanted to take this opportunity to explain how we converted the number of standards mastered and reported in The MasteryBook into the grade reported for the official records. Here is the breakdown of how we weighted each level of proficiency:”
Continuing Communication
Provide your contact information and details about how parents can reach you. Invite them into the conversation and make sure to respectfully answer any questions.
You might also consider sending a weekly, monthly, or quarterly newsletter to keep the conversation going. In a weekly or monthly newsletter include:
- a brief (nontechnical) summary of the standards you’ve all been working towards
- some of the learning activities their student has engaged in
- upcoming assessments
- strategies for supporting their child’s learning at home
- a reminder about how to contact you with questions
In a quarterly newsletter, make sure to:
- remind parents how to interpret progress reports
- contextualize progress report (where should the learner be at this point?)
- provide contact information and invite questions
Additional Resources
Here are a few other blog posts from Kristin Manna and Josh Kunnath on this topic if you’d like to see other examples of letters to parents!
