Grades

Mastery grading means academic grades are determined by student achievement of grade level content. Tasks are clearly separated into practice and performance so students practice knowledge and skills so they can demonstrate their mastery of grade level standards. Students demonstrate knowledge on assessments while classwork and homework are practice tools. Students who put in the hours of practice will inevitably perform better on assessments. Three educational researchers, Dougles Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Ian Pumpian, elaborate on the importance of distinguishing between practice and performance in their article No Penalties For Practice.

 

Students receive three separate grades every semester: academic grade, work habits grade, and cooperation grade. The academic grade is determined by mastery of content. The  work habits grade is determined by the quantity and quality of practice, and the cooperation grade is based on behavior and participation in class.

 

 

• The academic grade is based entirely on assessments.
• Learning is broken up into learning targets based on content domains (examples: ratios, geometry, decimals)
• A letter grade is given for each learning target based on the most recent assessment. (i.e. the average is not used within a learning target)
• A grading scale of 1 - 4 is used instead of a scale of 0 - 100. (A=4   B=3   C=2   D=1)
• The work habits grade is determined by classwork and homework. These do not contribute to the academic grade.
• The cooperation grade is determined by behavior and adherence to classroom norms.
• Assessments may be given in the form of tests or projects.
• Students may have multiple opportunities to retake an assessment if they practice i.e. they are completing classwork and homework.