Charting a Course to Standards-Based Grading: What to Stop, What to Start, and Why It Matters, Aug/2016

What's the best way to ensure that grading policies are fair, accurate, and consistent across classrooms? How can schools transition to a grading system that better reflects what students are actually learning? Author Tim R. Westerberg makes this journey easier by offering a continuum of options, with four "destinations" on the road to improved grading and assessment.

1. Destination 1 critically examines popular grading mechanisms and explains how they undermine objectivity and instead result in widely divergent grades for comparable work.
2. Destination 2 invites educators to put assessment and grading into the larger context of a districtwide guaranteed and viable curriculum.
3. Destination 3 brings parents and others on board with a multiyear implementation plan and community engagement strategies.
4. Destination 4 involves a total rethinking of the nature and structure of school, leading to individualized education for all students.