The Ultimate Guide to Standards-Based Learning

Are you looking for evidence, thought leaders, research, books, resources, and more to convince your colleagues and community about making the shift to standards-based learning? You have come to the right spot.

Have a resource not listed below? We’d love to hear from you! Shoot us an email and we’ll add it right away.

Follow these accounts on Twitter

There are more amazing people to connect with on social media, but this is a great place to start!

• Tom Guskey – @tguskey
• Rick Wormelli – @rickwormeli2
• Matt Townsley – @mctownsley
• Lee Ann Jung – @leeannjung
• Lisa Westman – @lisa_westman
• Douglas Reeves – @DouglasReeves
• Susan Brookhart – @SusanBrookhart
• The Standards-Based Classroom – @SBclassroom
• Ken O’Connor – @kenoc7

Highly recommended books on standards-based learning

• The Standards-Based Classroom: Make Learning the Goal
• How to Grade for Learning, K-12 (Volume 3)
• Checking for Understanding: Formative Assessment Techniques for Your Classroom
• Grading From the Inside Out: Bringing Accuracy to Student Assessment Through a Standards-Based Mindset
• On Your Mark: Challenging the Conventions of Grading and Reporting – a book for K-12 assessment policies and practices
• Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom
• Formative Assessment and Standards-Based Grading: The Classroom Strategies Series
• A School Leader’s Guide to Standards-Based Grading
• Answers to Essential Questions About Standards, Assessments, Grading, and Reporting 
• Grading and Group Work: How do I assess individual learning when students work together?
• Elements of Grading: Book 
• Grading Exceptional and Struggling Learners
• Standards-Based Learning in Action: Moving from Theory to Practice

Top 10 standards-based grading articles 2016-2018

• Brookhart, S. M., Guskey, T. R., Bowers, A. J., McMillan, J. H., Smith, J. K., Smith, L. F., Stevens, M. T., & Welsh, M. E. (2016). A century of grading research: Meaning and value in the most common educational measure. Review of Educational Research, 86(4), 803-848. [Available online]
  Too often, those of us in education receive some of the same questions from multiple audiences. In the case of changing grading practices, I often hear, “Why do we need to change our grading practices? They worked for me!” One article I often point to is this one, which I believe will someday be seminal work in our field. The authors conclude, “One hundred years of grading research have generally confirmed large variation among teachers in the validity and reliability of grades, both in the meaning of grades and the accuracy of reporting.” In other words, traditional grades have all kinds of problems.
• O’Connor, K. (2017). A case for standards-based grading and reporting. School Administrator, 74(1), 24-28. [Available online]
  Ken has written a number of excellent books and this article seems to sum them all up in a concise way. Although the original audience of the article was school superintendents, I feel confident sharing it with anyone interested in an overview of both why and how grading practices should improve.
• Buckmiller, T., Peters, R., & Kruse, J. (2017). Questioning points and percentages: Standards-based grading in higher education. College Teaching, 65(1), 1-7. doi:10.1080/87567555.2017.1302919.
  Standards-based grading can be done in higher education! Tom, Randy, and Jerrid document the perceptions of students in an educational technology course. In fact, the learners reported SBG was clear, more fair and a means for going beyond “playing the game of school” in college.
• Scarlett, M. H. (2018). “Why did I get a C?” Communicating student performance using standards-based grading. Insight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, 13, 59-75. [Available online]
  Dr. Scarlett proves yet again that standards-based grading can be done in higher education, this time with impressive attention to the planning and implementation details.
• James, A. R. (2018). Grading in physical education. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 89(5), 5-7. doi: 10.1080/07303084.2018.1442063. [Available online]
  It seems like standards-based grading early adopters are typically in the core content areas such as math, ELA or science, due to the accessibility of state and national standards documents. In this article, the author describes what SBG looks like in physical education. This write-up will inevitably be helpful for schools going “all-in: with SBG and few PE examples to draw from.
• Buckmiller, T., & Peters, R.. (2018). Getting a fair shot?. School Administrator, 75(2), 22-25. [Available online]
  Buckmiller and Peters receive fifteen points of extra credit for landing on this list more than once. When high schools make a change to standards-based grading practices, one of the often-noted concerns is around implications for the higher education admissions process. Through interviewing staff at several university admissions, the authors document several themes which include, “Letter grades and transcripts based on standards are acceptable, if not preferable, in the eyes of admissions offices, but with some caveats.” In other words, high school students experiencing SBG are getting a fair shot when applying for college.
• Reeves, D., Jung, L. A., & O’Connor, K. (2017). What’s worth fighting against in grading? Educational Leadership, 74(8), 42-45.
  It would be hard to NOT include this article collectively written by three of the most often cited experts in the grading reform field. Reeves, Jung and O’Connor clear the air and suggest several non-negotiables schools should consider in their quest to better communicate/report student learning.
• Wormeli, R. (2017). We have to prepare students for the next level, don’t we? AMLE Magazine, 5(1), ##-##. [Available online]
  The title speaks for itself. Rather than worrying about the next grade or institution of learning, educators should “…not sacrifice good instruction because those in upper levels are not there yet. Instead, we employ what we know works, and we spend time mentoring those above us in what we do.”
• Townsley, M. (2018). Mastery-minded grading in secondary schools. School Administrator, 75(2), 16-21. [Available online]
  I hesitated to include one of my own articles in this list, but by golly, I think it does a nice job describing what standards-based grading can look like at the secondary level. Feel free to let me know in the comments if you think my thinking was severely clouded when elevating this one to the top ten.
• Tucker, C. (2018). Rethinking grading. Educational Leadership, 75(5). [Available online]
  I’m not sure how I missed this article until a month ago when I was doing a literature search. Catlin lays out her fears and successes when implementing standards-based grading in a way that really resonated with me.

What Does the Research Say About Standards-Based Grading? – Matt Townsley

• Beatty, I. D. (2013). Standards-based grading in introductory university physics. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 13(2), 1-22. Retrieved from http://josotl.indiana.edu/article/view/3264
• Brown, B. W. & Saks, D. H. (1986). Measuring the effects of instructional time on student learning: Evidence from the beginning teacher evaluation study. American Journal of Education, 94(4), 480-500. 
• Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E. A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research, 1987–2003. Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 1–62. doi: 10.3102/00346543076001001
• Cox, K. B. (2011). Putting classroom grading on the table: A reform in progress. American Secondary Education, 40(1), 67-87.
• Craig T. A. (2011). Effects of standards-based report cards on student learning. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://repository.library.northeastern.edu/files/neu:1127
• Dueck, M. (2014). Grading smarter, not harder: Assessment strategies that motivate kids and help them learn. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
• Guskey, T. R. (2000). Grading policies that work against standards…And how to fix them. NASSP Bulletin, 84(620), 20–29. doi:10.1177/019263650008462003
• Guskey, T. R., & Bailey, J. M. (2001). Developing grading and reporting systems for student learning. Lexington, KY: Corwin.
• Guskey, T. R., Swan, G. M. & Jung, L. A. (2011). Grades that mean something: Kentucky develops standards-based report cards. Kappan, 93(2), 52-57.
• Guskey, T. R. (2011). Five obstacles to grading reform. Educational Leadership, 69(3),16-21.
• Guskey, T. R. (2014). On your mark: Challenging the conventions of grading and reporting. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
• Harrison, M. A., Meister, D. G., & LeFevre, A. J. (2011). Which students complete extra-credit work? College Student Journal, 45(3), 550-555.
• Haystead, M. W., & Marzano, R. J. (2009). Meta-analytic synthesis of studies conducted at Marzano Research Laboratory on instructional strategies. Englewood, CO: Marzano Research Laboratory. Retrieved from http://www.marzanoevaluation.com/files/Instructional_Strategies_Report_9_2_09.pdf
• Matthis, T. L. (2010). Motivational punishment: Beaten by carrots and sticks. EHS Today. Retrieved from http://ehstoday.com/safety/news/motivational-punishment-beaten-carrots-sticks-1120.
• Marzano, R. (2000). Transforming classroom grading. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
• Marzano (2003) What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
• O’Connor, K. (2009). How to grade for learning, K-12 (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
• Marzano, R. J., & Heflebower, T. (2011). Grades that show what students know. Educational Leadership, 69(3), 34-39.
• Moore, R. (2005). Who does extra-credit work in introductory science courses? Journal of College Science Teaching, 34(7), 12-15.
• Peters, R. & Buckmiller, T. (2015). Our grades were broken: Overcoming barriers and challenges to implementing standards-based grading. Journal of Educational Leadership in Action, 4.
• Reeves, D. (2004). Making standards work: How to implement standards-based assessments in the classroom, school, and district. Englewood, CO: Advanced Learning Press.
• Reeves, D. B. (2008). Effective grading practices. Educational Leadership, 65(5), 85-87. 
• Scriffiny, P. L. (2008). Seven reasons for standards-based grading. Educational Leadership, 66(2), 70-74.
• Schoen, H.L., Cebulla, K.J., Finn, K.F., and Fi, C. (2003). Teacher variables that relate to student achievement when using a standards-based curriculum. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 34(3), 228-259.
• Stiggins, R. J., Frisbie, D. A. & Griswold, P. A. (1989). Inside high school grading practices: Building a research agenda. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 8(2), 5-14. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-3992.1989.tb00315.
• Spencer, K. (2012). Standards-based grading. Education Digest, 78(3).
• Vatterott, C. (2015). Rethinking grading. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
• Wormeli, R. (2006). Fair isn’t always equal: Assessing grading in the differentiated classroom. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
• Wormeli, R. (2011). Redos and retakes done right. Educational Leadership, 69(3), 22-26.
• Zoeckler, L. G. (2007). Moral aspects of grading: A study of high school English teachers’ perceptions. American Secondary Education, 35(2), 83-102.

75 New England Institutions of Higher Education State that Proficiency-Based Diplomas Do Not Disadvantage Applicants

• With some parents wondering what potential impact proficiency-based education may have on their children or the college-admissions process, the New England Secondary School Consortium reached out to institutions of higher education throughout the region. We asked them about their support of proficiency-based learning and how non-traditional grading systems and transcripts might affect the admissions process.
• Includes Harvard, MIT, and Tufts
• Downloadable signed statements from each university
• How Selective Colleges and Universities Evaluate Proficiency-Based High School Transcripts: Insights for Students and Schools – White paper

Matt Townsley’ Blog

Continue the Learning

• 3 Keys to Ease Teacher Resistance to Standards-Based Grading
• Standards-Based Learning: 5 Essential Terms for Teachers
• 10 Things We Learned About Standards-Based Grading from Lee Ann Jung
• What is standards-based grading?
• Have report cards driven a wedge between parents and standards-based grading?
• 3 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Standards-Based Gradebook

Standards-Based Grading requires the right mindset and the right tools

Otus is designed for K-12 school systems who are transitioning from traditional grading to standards-based grading. We are unique in that we ensure that parents and families also have the tools necessary to understand this shift in grading.

As proud as we may be of our platform, we recognize the importance of sound instructional strategies and want to empower educators to reach their greatest potential. Therefore we’ve created two places where you can engage with a community of like-minded educators.

Join our Facebook group! The purpose of this group is to connect educators who share a focus on the ongoing paradigm shift in instructional, assessment, and grading practices. Join us to collaborate with prominent educators and walk away with strategies to support your teaching and learning initiatives. bit.ly/ModernMeasuresCommunity  

Follow us on Twitter! We share resources and spark conversations about healthy instructional, assessment, and grading practices. Ask your questions using the hashtag #ModernMeasures or follow @Modern_Measures.