1- SBG Overview

ISR strives to improve student achievement for all students in every classroom every day.  Research supports standards-based grading and reporting as a basis of communication that will help students learn more effectively through better feedback.

The primary goal of grading and reporting is communication (Guskey and Bailey, 2000). Grading and reporting are integral parts of the instructional process.  Good reporting is based on good evidence.  Changes in grading and reporting are best accomplished through the development of a comprehensive reporting system.  

So why change our current practices?  There are four developments that necessitate change in grading and reporting systems :
  1. The growing emphasis on standards and performance assessments makes current reporting practices inadequate.
  2. Students and parents are demanding more and better information about student learning progress.
  3. Advances in technology allow for more efficient reporting of detailed information on student learning.
  4. Grading and reporting are recognized as one of educators' most important reponsibilities.  There is a growing awareness of the gap between our knowledge base and common practice in grading and reporting.
ISR is committed to ensuring grades and reports are consistent, accurate, meaningful, and supportive of learning.    Cultivating exceptional thinkers requires us to link our feedback (grades)  to higher levels of thinking such as application, analysis, evaluation, and creation.  To prepare students for the future, we need to help them develop the internal mechanisms to be self-regulated, self-motivated learners.  A move to standards-based grading helps us do all of these things.

Source: Singapore American School
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