Standards-based Grading: The Letter Grade

Be sure to read Part 1 of this three part series first. It covers the standards themselves and the tasks for each level of each standard.

In standards-based grading (SBG), there are no points, and since there are no points grades are not based on averages. Therefore a student doesn't earn an A for getting 90% or 94% or whatever% of the points available over the grading period. For the philosophy and arguments behind this position, see an earlier post of mine which points to many other resources: http://jameshosler.blogspot.com/2012/02/bit-by-sbg-bug.html

Instead, for each standard students earn some rank 1-4 (or 1-10, or 1-2, or whatever scale the teacher is using) based on their performance against the tasks of the standards. If a student completes the level 2 task of the reading standard, for example, that student advances to level 2 for reading. And so on. In this way students earn some rank 1-4 for each standard throughout the grading period. Of course a student can go down the ranks as well as up, depending on performance. If a student gets to level 3 of the reading standard toward to beginning of the year, but by the end can longer complete the task for level 2, the student would fall to level 1 overall until he or she is able to demonstrate the adequate proficiency.

So, there are no points or averages. There is only a collection of ranks 1-4 (or whatever scale is used). The teacher needs to turn that into a letter grade. I use a conjunctive system after the work of Dr. Robert Marzano and the examples of many others (especially Chris Ludwig).

Final letter grades are calculated according to the various combinations of ranks. For example, here is how I calculated the overall letter grades in Latin 1 for third quarter this year:

You earn the overall grade:	If you earn these ranks:
A	-a 4 in at least one standard -nothing lower than a 3
B	-a 3 in at least three standards -nothing lower than a 2
C	either -nothing lower than a 2 or -1 in any standard
D	-1 in any two standards
F	-1 in any three standards

“pluses” and “minuses" can also be given when appropriate, for combinations of ranks that are “in between” the descriptions above

For progress reports between grading periods (my school does them at 3 and 6 weeks) the letter grade scale can be easily changed to reflect what standards have been assessed and at what levels they have been assessed. For example, for the first 3 week progress report of Latin 1, obviously not every standard will have been assessed. Perhaps only interpersonal to level 2 and hearing to level 2 will have been assessed. So your scale will say something like "an A is a 2 in both, a B isn't possible, a C is a 2 in one standard and a 1 in the other, a D isn't possible, and an F is a 1 in both."

As the students progress through the years of language study, the requirements for each letter grade can become more rigorous:

Latin 1, Semesters 1 and 2

You earn the overall grade:	If you earn these ranks:
A	-a 4 in at least one standard -nothing lower than a 3
B	-a 3 in at least three standards -nothing lower than a 2
C	either -nothing lower than a 2 or -1 in any standard
D	-1 in any two standards
F	-1 in any three standards

Latin 2, Semester 1

You earn the overall grade:	If you earn these ranks:
A	-a 4 in at least one standard -nothing lower than a 3
B	-a 3 in at least three standards -nothing lower than a 2
C	either -nothing lower than a 2 or -1 in any standard
D	-1 in any two standards
F	-1 in any three standards

Latin 2, Semester 2

You earn the overall grade:	If you earn these ranks:
A	-a 4 in at least two standards -nothing lower than a 3
B	-a 3 in at least three standards -nothing lower than a 2
C	either -nothing lower than a 2 or -1 in any standard
D	-1 in any two standards
F	-1 in any three standards

Latin 3 and 4, Semesters 1 and 2

You earn the overall grade:	If you earn these ranks:
A	-a 4 in at least two standards -nothing lower than a 3
B	-a 3 in at least four standards -nothing lower than a 2
C	either -nothing lower than a 2 or -1 in any standard
D	-1 in any two standards
F	-1 in any three standards

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