At a robotics competition with newly designed robots, Upper School science teacher Xiao Zhang met a teacher who taught at another school. They exchanged topics about science curricula and Standard-Based Grading entered into their discussion. One conversation later, many classes in the science department at Parker shifted their grading system to Standard-Based Grading. 

At first, Standard-Based Grading was incorporated in the physics classes that Upper School Science teacher Elizabeth Druger and Zhang taught. A workshop with all of the science teachers took place last summer in order for teachers to understand the core of what Standard-Based Grading is. Since then, other science teachers have adopted Standards-Based grading in some of their classes. “We got to this point where we did a workshop over the summer, and we got fairly confident that we understand this a lot better,” Upper School science teacher and Co-Chair of Science Department George Austin said.

Standard-Based Grading is a system in which grades are given with a focus on student improvement. It is feedback-based instead of performance-based. Some claim that it is also helpful in identifying if students understand directions, problems, and content by grading on understanding. Each class has a set of standards to meet for students to have a certain grade at the end of the semester, and the students work to collect as many standards as possible. 

Standard-Based Grading can also look different depending on the science class. For example, some science classes use “D” for “Demonstrate” and “R” for “Revise” to communicate if you need to work on a specific standard. Some other science classes use the 6-8-10 rule to determine a grade for a specific assignment or assesment. 

 “Each teacher has a different take on Standards-Based Grading. Because just like grading in general, everybody can do it differently,” Austin said. 

Science teachers have incorporated the new grading system into their classes. “All the teachers in the Upper School science are doing Standards-Based Grading, at least in some of their classes they teach,” Austin said. 

Austin also highlighted that Standards-Based grading may be one step closer to removing grades altogether. “It’s closer to what I would really like to do, get rid of grades in total, and really focus in on what are students understanding, and what are they not understanding, and what skills have they developed, and what skills do they need to develop,” Austin said. 

Sophomore Anika Gehani has described her experience with the Standard-Based Grading system as generally positive. “So far this year, I’ve enjoyed having Standard-Based Grading in science class. When each unit is organized into standards, it helps me study for specific objectives I know will be on tests, and it has definitely helped with my cumulative grade in the class. Although it can be stressful and a little worrying to either receive a 10 or 8 initially with no in between, I’ve learned that with retakes you can easily average grades,” Gehani said. 

Junior Litzy Tafolla agrees that there are benefits to Standard-Based Grading. “With Standard-Based Grading I feel that it’s helpful in the way that students are getting graded on at least understanding the concept even if they don’t get the numbers right,” Tafolla said. 

However, Standard-Based Grading introduces the possibility of not knowing one’s grade in the class due to the different arrangement of points. “As much as teachers don’t want us to stress out about our grades, it’s kind of inevitable,” Tafolla said. 

From the teachers’ perspective Austin highlights that, “we live in a system where a letter grade needs to be generated,” Austin said. “All of our amazing things we do with Standard-Based grading, still, unfortunately, gets distilled down to a single letter grade. And that’s the thing I would like to move further away from, if possible.”

Gehani also highlights how Standard-Based Grading compares to a traditional grading system and how it could translate into some of her other classes. “As this semester has come to an end, I’m glad to have had Standard-Based Grading in this class, because I feel like I’m getting higher scores than I would have on a 1 to 100 scale,” Gehani said. 

Austin sees a connection between Parker’s progressive mission and Standard-Based Grading’s focus on student improvement. “I do think that once you see the philosophical reasons for doing it and the practical impact of students by doing this, I think it is more in line with the Parker philosophy,” Austin said.