Comparing Traditional Grading and Standards-Based Grading Systems
In teaching Planning and Assessment at the University of Southern Maine, one of the discussions I engage in with my students is the difference between traditional and standards-based grading systems. The word “system” implies an organized arrangement or procedure. This post identifies the organized procedures and component parts commonly affiliated with traditional grading systems and standards-based grading systems.
Let’s Discuss: Traditional Grading Systems
The term “traditional grading system” indicates a methodology that uses percentages, zero to 100; letter grades A, B, C, D, F; or numbers, allowing teachers to arrive at scores meant to describe student achievement. Many scholars agree that, in a traditional grading system, most teachers collect cognitive and non-cognitive evidence – things like effort and the use of their professional judgment – to determine students’ grades. (Brookhart et al., 2016).
Teachers apply a variety of methods to tally academic achievement and variables such as effort, behavior, and improvement to determine a final ‘hodge-podge’ grade (Brookhart, 1991, p. 36).
Tools and Approaches: Traditional Grading Systems
A 2018 study of 943 teachers across multiple school districts representing grades K-12, and having varied years of experience, found that teachers use many different tools to assess student achievement to arrive at grades. Those included, but were not limited to, major examinations and compositions, unit tests, class quizzes, reports or projects, portfolios, laboratory projects, students’ notebooks or journals, classroom observation, oral presentations, homework completion, and homework quality (Guskey & Link, 2018).
Arguably, each of these could be determined through quantitative measures. The same study notes that teachers also use methods such as work habits, neatness, effort, attitude, and class participation, in other words, non-cognitive factors. Those were used to determine approximately 10-20% of a student’s overall grade (Guskey & Link, 2018). These variables are typically best measured through qualitative means.
While there are many different tools teachers who practice traditional grading apply to collect data and calculate grades, and while some, though not all of those, are common from one teacher to the next, there is a common denominator in the use of those tools. The gradebook of a teacher operating in a traditional system is organized according to those tools. Students accumulate grades in categories such as exams, homework, participation, etc. Those groups of grades are then used to determine an overall grade. The effect is that student achievement reflects their ability to do well on exams and homework, to participate in class, or whatever measure the teacher deems most appropriate in determining student grades.
Let’s Discuss: Standard-based Grading Systems
A standards-based grading system’s most notable distinguishing feature is that students accrue a collection of grades for each standard assessed, with tools like exams, homework, and compositions being the means rather than the ends. In a standards-based grading system, teachers use many of the same tools their peers who engage in a traditional system use, but the tools are applied as vehicles to assess student competency or proficiency of the standards rather than as categories for data collection and sorting.
A 2024 study determined that scholars agree there are four basic tenets that ground a standards-based grading system.
In a standards-based system, academic grades are based on summative assessments only. Grades do not include formative assessments, nor do they include things like effort or behavior. Those variables, frequently referred to as habits of work and learning, may be graded, but those grades remain distinct from academic grades.
Also grounding a standards-based system is the idea that students should have multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency with each named criterion or standard and that when grades are assigned, they should represent current levels of understanding based on standards rather than a numeric mean across time.
Finally, in a standards-based system, the grading scale should use a finite number of levels of achievement, with no named level of achievement, leaving room for ambiguity (Townsley & Wilcox, 2024). Given this factor, it is common for standards-based systems to use the numbers 4, 3, 2, and 1 to represent a limited number of equally apportioned levels of attainment.
Commonalities and Differences Between Traditional and Standards-Based Grading Systems
There are some basic commonalities between the two systems. Teachers in both traditional and standards-based systems use assessment tools like quizzes, compositions, and presentations as a way to examine and make determinations about student learning. Additionally, both systems rely on symbols to represent what has been learned. Those symbols are frequently numbers or letters.
Sometimes, teachers use words or phrases to describe achievement, and they also use descriptions. This is true regardless of the system in which they operate. There are also some considerable differences between traditional and standards-based systems. The chart below indicates those differences. Since the practice of standards-based grading is a response to traditional grading, it makes sense that the four tenets discussed above provide the foundation for the differences between the two systems.
Reflecting on Grading Systems: Next Steps for Educators
Consideration of traditional and standards-based grading systems is a good start in helping educators look closely at practice and making mindful decisions about how they’d like to move forward. This brief comparison is one helpful exercise.
Subsequent posts will consider the differences and tensions within each system as I challenge the assumption that simply because it is a system, it is monolithic.
If you’d like to learn more about how JumpRope can assist you in implementing a standards-based grading system, reach out today for a discussion.
Works Cited:
Brookhart, S. M., Guskey, T. R., Bowers, A. J., McMillan, J. H., Smith, J. K., Smith, L. F., . . . Welsh, M. E. (2016) A century of grading research: Meaning and value in the most common educational measure. Review of Educational Research, 86(4), 803–848, DOI: 10.3102/0034654316672069
Guskey, Thomas R. & Link, Laura J. (2019) Exploring the factors teachers consider in determining students’ grades, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 26(3), 303-320, DOI: 10.1080/0969594X.2018.1555515
Townsley, M., and Wilcox, J. (2024) Standards-Based Grading: Core Principles and Current Implementation Debates, The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 97(3), 76-86, DOI: 10.1080/00098655.2024.2357615
