At a recent Middlesex County Kiwanis Club meeting, Danielle Daniel, principal of the Middlesex Elementary School, spoke about standards-based grading. Standards-based reform first gained momentum in 1983, during the President Ronald Reagan era, with the federal educational goals and objectives highlighted in “Nation at Risk.”
What is standards-based grading? The speaker defined it as “reporting academic accomplishment based on students’ progression toward an understanding of taught and learned skills.” Standards-based grading allows opportunities for continued learning of skills and provides teachers and families with feedback about student progress.
Principal Daniel then explained that standards-based grading is not the same as traditional grading. Values are not intended to be compared to a traditional grade scale (A-F).
