Introduction to the Four Pillars of Standards-Based Grading and Identifying Our Current Realities

This session will focus on “why” changes in assessment, grading and reporting are critical in education in 2021 and beyond. During this interactive session, Garth Larson and Becky Peppler will share the key premises of the STAGR process, practical tools on how to accomplish these key ideas and the results of districts that have successfully implemented such changes in their Pre-K through 12th grade settings.

Pillar 2- Making Reassessment Work in Your School and Classroom

One of the common questions that continually comes up in schools is how to successfully make reassessment work on behalf of students and teachers. During this session, we will explore options for Reassessment that will make the process feel doable and manageable in your classroom. Participants will walk away with templates to begin planning the process of reassessment in their classroom.

Pillar 4 - Using 
Student-Proficiency as the Basis for Academic Achievement Scores

During session 5, we will explore how schools can begin to transition from using the traditional 100 point scale to a proficiency based model for scoring. This includes examining different proficiency scales that exist, how schools have used them to still meet the expectations of the community and ultimately, ensure that academic grades students receive are truly reflective of student proficiency against standards or targets. We will also showcase how to engage in the process of identifying priority standards, writing clear learning targets and observables and how to build assessments that are based on the identified standards or learning targets within each course.

Pillar 1 -  Formative Practices in Standards-Based Grading

Formative work is a vital part of the learning process, the question becomes, should students be graded on the practice that occurs in the learning process? During this session we will determine strategies of how we can reduce the value of formative work so that academic grade is a true reflection of student learning. We will also look at ways to make formative practice more meaningful to students and staff alike.

Pillar 3 - Removing Non-Academic Factors from Academic Grades

One of the pillars of shifting grading and reporting practices, to make grades more meaningful, is the separation of  non-academic factors from academic grades. The question becomes, HOW do we make this happen and HOW do we make it matter to students? This interactive session will guide participants through the process of how to develop a system that will allow you to successfully separate non-academic factors from the academic grade. Examples of effective practices and procedures will be shared throughout the presentation along with guiding questions you can take back to your team. We will also address how to answer the common and difficult questions we may encounter during this transition.

Conversations and Communication Around Standards-Based Grading

One of the top questions we receive when working in schools all over the country is what does the gradebook and report card look like when we have completed the SBG process?  During this session, we will showcase real examples of how schools have successfully communicated student achievement with all stakeholders in a standards/target based system. This includes helping schools that still require a letter grade to learn a process for determining how to still keep the letter grade, but also ensure student proficiency is the basis for what goes into that letter grade.