Make It a Conversation
There are many ways to use standards-based grading, and mastery scales can vary across learning communities. There is no standard way to use SBG, so having a conversation about what would best serve everyone involved is crucial. This communication will set up your school community for SBG success in the long run!
Avoid Adding Too Many or Ambiguous Categories
One of the benefits of a mastery scale is consistency across classrooms in a school community. With a traditional grading scale, teachers often have unique criteria for each grade. Since the criteria are specific to that teacher, understanding a student’s comprehension of a subject can be difficult. When transitioning to a Standards-Based approach, beware of using categories that are too difficult to distinguish. Setting your scale with clear and specific categories will easily communicate student performance.
Standards-Based Grading Conversion Methods
In some cases, converting a standards-based grade into a traditional letter grade may be necessary. While there is no “correct” method to accomplish this, a few conversion methods include the percentage and the Marzano methods.
Marzano Method
Robert J. Marzano published the Marzano method in the bookFormative Assessment & Standards-Based Grading. In this method, Marzano provides a chart with a 1-4 mastery scale. Using the average of a student’s SBG scores, you can quickly convert the standards grade into a traditional letter grade.
Percentage Method
The percentage method is intuitive and flexible for any grading scale. First, add the number of standard points the student earned. Then, divide that sum by the total number of points possible. Once you have that percentage, you can convert it using a traditional grading scale as pictured above. This method works for the common 1-4 scale as well as for 1-3 or 1-5 scales.
Otus Gradebook
The methods mentioned above are great ways to convert standards grades into traditional points grades, but what if you didn’t have to calculate a conversion at all? Using a standards-based grading tool like Otus, all assignments and assessments in Otus can be tied to standards. This flexibility allows for both points and standards-based grading, making the transition to SBG seamless and easier for teachers, students, and families.
How Is Standards-Based Grading Calculated?
Mastery can be calculated in several ways in a standards-based approach. The most popular calculation methods include decaying average, most recent score, highest score, mode, and mean. Each method differs in how it weighs recency versus consistency.
Mean
Calculating a student’s mastery using the mean is relatively straightforward. First, convert each level of your scale to a number. Often it will look something like this:
1 – Not at Mastery
2 – Approaching Mastery
3 – Near Mastry
4 – Mastery
Next, add all the student’s attempts at the standard and divide by the total number of attempts. Use standard rounding rules to round to the nearest whole, then convert back to the mastery level. Of all the calculation methods presented, using the mean most closely resembles a traditional grading approach. This method evenly weighs the first attempt and the last attempt.
Here are some examples:
(1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4) / 8 = 2.63 → Approaching Mastery
(2 + 3 + 4 + 3 + 4 + 4) / 6 = 3.33 → Near Mastery
(3 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 4) / 5 = 3.6 → Mastery
Mode
The mode is the grading scale level the student scored most frequently. This method, much like mean/average, does not consider the order of the attempts, only the frequency of results.
Here are some examples:
(Not at Mastery,Not at Mastery, Near Mastery, Mastery) → Not at Mastery
(Not at Mastery,Near Mastery,Near Mastery, Mastery) → Near Mastery
(Not at Mastery, Near Mastery, Approaching Mastery,Mastery,Mastery) — > Mastery
Highest
The “highest” calculation method is exactly what it sounds like. You use the highest level that the student ever achieved to calculate their total score. This method can safeguard against a lower recent score that might not accurately communicate the student’s full grasp of the standard. However, this can also work in the opposite direction and give a false positive for a student that doesn’t completely understand a standard.
Here are some examples:
(Not at Mastery, Approaching Mastery,Near Mastery, Near Mastery) → Near Mastery
(Not at Mastery, Not at Mastery, Near Mastery,Mastery, Near Mastery) → Mastery
