A School Leader's Guide to Standards-Based Grading

 A School Leader’s Guide to Standards-Based Grading, by Tammy Heflebower, Jan K. Hoegh, and Phil Warrick, with Mitzi Hoback, Margaret McInteer, and Bev Clemens, offers a reliable framework for analysing student learning and providing students and stakeholders with effective feedback on student progress. This guide not only articulates significant research supporting standards-based grading as an accurate, precise, and effective way to report academic strengths and weaknesses but also shares applicable anecdotes from educators implementing its components. The authors detail specific procedures, processes, and systems necessary for implementation. 

Using this practical, research-based resource, principals, administrators, and teacher leaders will: 

• Distinguish between standards-based and standards-referenced grading 

• Understand the research and reasoning for standards-based grading and read other educators’ accounts of their experiences with standards-based grading 

• Explore the advantages and challenges of implementing standards-based grading  

• Examine their current grading practices and identify strategies to ensure grades accurately reflect students’ strengths and weaknesses

• Improve student achievement through meaningful, measurable, and accurate reporting