Here is a letter of support we wrote for Des Moines Public Schools regarding SBG/SRG found: http://grading.dmschools.org/parents.html
To Whom It May Concern:
As researchers studying the challenges and outcomes of
standards-based assessment and grading practices at the secondary level, we
have had the opportunity to interview a large number of school and district
administrators involved in this work. Based on our observations of, and
conversations regarding, the Des Moines Public Schools’ initiative, we would
like to offer our admiration and support for the district’s impressive and
ambitious efforts. Like many in our profession, we’ve become increasingly
concerned in recent years over the number of high school graduates who are unprepared
for college and careers, as well as how far our students lag behind those in other
countries. Progressive districts that
base their practices on clearly defined learning standards can improve instruction,
assessment and reporting. Standards-referenced grading—a logical
extension of that process—allows teachers to provide clearer, more effective feedback when
compared to traditional grading.
Traditional report cards no longer offer enough detail to
answer the critical question: “How well is my child learning?” Our current grading system is
more than a century old and does not have a meaningful body of research to
support it. This is no longer acceptable: Parents
need to know their child’s strengths and areas for growth, as well as
interventions that can be undertaken at home to promote success.
The
most important objective of grades is to provide information or feedback to
students and parents. Research has shown that providing specific feedback about
students’ standing in terms of learning goals significantly increased their
achievement. Guskey (2011), studying
standards-based programs, found teachers
and families unanimous in their agreement that standards-based reports provided
better and clearer information. Thus, it is our belief that standards-referenced
grading, when intentionally applied, is a defensible system for fair, accurate,
and meaningful assessment of student work.
However, parents sometimes express concerns that standards-based grading
might pose a threat to their children’s post-secondary opportunities. Administrators in standards-based
districts that we’ve studied report conversations with university admissions
personnel, who acknowledge that traditional grades
are not always reliable indicators of collegiate success. They note that student
records are often dealt with manually, since there are many grading systems
that vary widely among the high schools they work with. They commend standards-based
schools for removing variables that inflate grades and providing reports that
more accurately represent learning. Ultimately,
perhaps, one principal we spoke with said it best: “I tell parents all the
time, ‘Your child will get into college if that’s what he or she aspires to,
but that's not why we're here—we’re here to make sure they get through
college.’”
Much of the
aversion to standards-based grading is related to our familiarity with
traditional letter grades—anyone who might be reading this is likely to be a
product of that system—and perhaps fear of the unknown. But there needs to be a
trust in, and respect for, the profound lessons that have come out of standards-based
models. Teachers are reporting improved relationships with students and
parents, and empowered students who take greater responsibility for their own
learning, improve their academic performance, and become better prepared for
life after high school. To successfully build on this mission, we need to
recognize that this essential objective of education—to have ongoing,
constructive conversations about our children learning for a lifetime—is the right work.
In conclusion,
we again applaud DMPS for its decision to become part of the leading edge of a
transition toward this well-supported, increasingly applied model. In
particular, there appears to be great promise in implementing the model to
scale as a large, urban district, as it appears to hold the potential to lessen
the achievement gap for underserved students. If there is anything that we as
university faculty charged with preparing the next generation of educators and
educational leaders can do to further support these efforts, please know that
we would be open to the discussion.
Sincerely,
Randal Peters,
Ed.D.
Assistant
Professor
Drake University
Thomas
Buckmiller, Ph.D.
Assistant
Professor
Drake University
