GOSHEN COUNTY – Goshen County School District No. 1 is implementing a standards based grading system for grades six through 12 for the 2020-21 school year.
According to Director of Curriculum Donna Fields, the system will assess student progress based on learning standards for the course determined by its teachers. Standard scores will range from 0-4, which will be converted to a letter grade that will be visible on report cards at the end of the semester.
These “Top 10” standards specific to each subject are determined by the district’s teachers, and have been used in teaching for several years. This year, however, students will be graded in these standards on the 0-4 scale, which is available for parents and students on PowerSchool, GCSD’s Student Information System.
“What it does is provide more feedback and opportunity for growth that allows us to really focus on things that are course specific, and allows us to make sure that we’re getting proper feedback to students on what specific areas of content they really need to focus on,” said Superintendent Ryan Kramer.
An example of standards for an English class might be reading at grade level, ability to comprehend character and setting, grammar comprehension, etc.
“We need to know where kids are strong and where kids are weak, to be able to intervene and you can’t do that with a 96%,” Fields said.
Not only do these standards show student achievement and struggle, but they also show teachers what subject areas they may need to spend more time on based on how a class of students perform.
The new grading system creates uniformity among the district’s secondary schools and pinpoints areas in which students struggle or excel, which was missing in average grading. Torrington Middle School Principal Marv Haiman said students will now receive a more “honest” grade, rather than one that factors in extra credit for covering their books or point reductions for submitting late homework.
“Anytime you introduce those factors, it masks the reality of how a student is truly performing,” Haiman said.
Non-academic aspects of students’ conduct, like behavior, will still be assessed by teachers and listed on report cards, but it will not be factored into their overall grade point average, according to Fields. They’ll be assessed on their respect and responsibility and graded accordingly, which will be listed on students’ report cards adjacent to their academic grade.
“Teachers go in and score kids on, he may have an A in my class but he turns in everything late so he’s going to get a warning,” she said.
The new system was set to be implemented this school year before the novel coronavirus pandemic struck mid-March. As teachers and students navigate remote learning, new technology, mask wearing and social distancing, they’re now also learning the new grading system. For teachers, this means changes to their gradebooks and averaging all of their standards scores into a letter grade at the end of the term.
Though beneficial, Torrington High School Principal Chase Christensen acknowledged the new grading system will present challenges.
“Teachers and students are seeing a lot of changes that are happening in school,” he said. “And right now, (the new grading system) is probably perceived as one more. And it’s heavy. It’s a heavy load right now for everybody.”
Southeast Principal Randy Epler echoed Christensen’s sentiment.
“From a professional position it all makes sense,” Epler said. “From a personal position, it’s a lot on teachers.”
Despite its challenges, standards based grading in the era of COVID-19 could provide more clarity in learning when students might learn via multiple platforms, in-person, virtual or remote, throughout the school year, according to Lingle-Fort Laramie Principal Cory Gilchriest.
“It can be (helpful) because we’re talking about being very intentional on what we want students to learn, and having that focus when you’re changing between platforms, certainly makes it a lot more consistent,” he said.
