Jeanetta Jones Miller

A Better Grading System:

Standards-Based,
Student-Centered
Assessment

have been experimenting with ways

to individualize the learning experience for high school students
since I first heard James Moffett
speak at an Asilomar conference in 1991 and realized that my concerns about how we do school were
shared and understood. Over the years Ive found
many ways to engage students in learning and
to make grades a more accurate reflection of that
learning; however, I continued to report progress as
the average of grades for individual assignments, a
practice that is not only widely accepted but also
expected in high school. I wasnt comfortable with
this practice, but I couldnt figure out how to take
a student-centered approach to grading that would
work with the schools reporting system. A few
years ago I conducted a survey of a representative
cross-section of the junior class to gather information about how students define success. I categorized the responses by gender and academic level
and found that every group defined success primarily as getting the grades necessary for admission to
college. The responses to two open-ended questions
about how the student defines success now and in
five years frequently mentioned pressure and stress.
The students comments suggest that many experience high school as an ordeal that must be endured
to get into college, get a good-paying job, and, finally, sometime in the hazy future, get the security and happiness that will make it all worthwhile.
Teenagers are not generally recognized for their
ability to delay gratification, but the survey results
indicate that delayed gratification is the norm for

The author discusses the

benefits of a standards-
based, student-centered
approach to assessment.

many teenagers and that they fulfill our demands

because they are afraid not to. What I learned from
these students made it impossible for me to continue the practice of averaged grades. I had to find
an alternative. I read the research, took long walks
turning possibilities over in my head, and finally on
a hot July day during summer break came up with
an approach that worked. In this article I describe
that approach in detail.

What the Researchers Say about Grades

In Fair Isnt Always Equal: Assessing and Grading in
the Differentiated Classroom, Rick Wormeli does not
mince words as he calls for teachers to engage in
honest discussion about grading:
There are some aspects of teaching that we keep in
cages in hopes they will never escape. . . . We dont
share our concerns with our own grading approach
or that of a colleagues often, and we dont spend
time with each other determining the meaning of
a C, an A, or discussing what constitutes a 3.5 on
a rubric. . . . The day is upon us, however. Its time
to talk about grades, grading, and report cards
openly, if we havent before, questioning assumptions, embracing alternatives, and focusing on the
promise of what teaching and learning can be.
(8990)

Douglas B. Reeves conducted an experiment with

teachers and administrators all over the country
that underscores the disparity of grading practices.
He asked participants to determine a students
final grade based on a set of ten individual grades:

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C, C, MA (Missing Assignment), D, C, B, MA,

MA, B, A. The results ranged from A to F. In his
discussion of these results in an article published in
Educational Leadership in 2008, Reeves writes, As
this experiment demonstrates, the difference between failure and the honor roll often depends on
the grading policies of the teacher. To reduce the
failure rate, schools dont need a new curriculum,
a new principal, new teachers, or new technology.
They just need a better grading system (85).

Standards-Based Grades
As he reports in Transforming Classroom Grading,
Robert J. Marzano came to believe the most important purpose of grades is frequent, detailed feedback and, therefore, the best reference point must
be specific objectives, stanI wrestled with how to
dards, or other learning goals.
do away with grades on
He proposes several possible
individual assignments
standards-
based systems that
might serve this purpose.
while still being able to
Marzanos work helped me see
report student progress
that instead of assessing indias a number.
vidual assignments, I could
assess student progress toward mastery of standards. The students would still have assignments
and they would still have grades but the purpose
would shift. The assignments would no longer be
ends in themselves. I wrestled with how to do away
with grades on individual assignments while still
being able to report student progress as a number.
The breakthrough came when it occurred to me
that I could enter standards as assignments in the
online grade book and report students progress toward mastery of each standard as a number between
zero and ten. This system made it possible for students to receive the marking period and semester
grades necessary for college transcripts and eligibility for honor roll, at the same time that it gave me
the flexibility to meet individual students needs.
When the goal is mastery of standards, it
doesnt matter that students might not complete
exactly the same assignments or exactly the same
number of assignments because the focus is on
what the student is learning rather than how much
the student is doing. A standards-based approach
to assessment still holds students accountable for
the work they need to do to make progress, but it

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leaves teachers free to individualize and leaves students free to concentrate on learning.

Student-Centered Approach
James Moffett and Betty Jane Wagner believed that
we can trust students to want to learn when they
are sure it is their learning rather than their compliance that is our first concern. In Student-Centered
Language Arts, K12, Moffett and Wagner argued
that students and teachers should be partners in
learning and that we need to concentrate on keeping the ownership of the work and the goal-setting
with the student (251). Students dont need endless essays and tests to know they are making progress: If students are constantly producing and
receiving discourse in great volume and variety, and
if the teacher is freed from emceeing to circulate
and observe, then good evaluation becomes possible
without resorting to special activities that detract
from learning and make students hate reading and
writing. . . . Partner work, small-group discussion
and improvisation, the writing workshop, rehearsal
and performance, coaching from the teacherall
these reflect back to the learner the effects of his
language actions (24344). As I explain in detail
below, a student-centered approach does not relieve
students of responsibility to participate in all aspects of their class, but it does release them from
the chore of doing assignments for the sole purpose
of protecting their final grade.
To take a student-centered approach to assessment, the teacher needs to notice each students
strengths and needs and act on this knowledge. Lets
say the teachers goal is for each student to be able
to write an organized essay. While some students
might need coaching on how to present and support
ideas effectively, another student might have no issues with organization but need to be able to shift
from exposition into narrative mode to breathe life
into stilted language. Yet another student might
need to let go of an essay that just isnt working and
try something new, which might interfere with his
ability to finish the assignment at the same time as
the rest of the class. Still another student, already
an accomplished essayist, might be writing an article for the school paper and need time for that.
Moffett was clear that a student-centered approach
is not anything goes. He wrote, Let all parties

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Jeanetta Jones M iller

know that all activities are assessed all the time, but
dont ever give the impression that the assessment
is intended for anything but help and encouragement (246).
Moffett urged teachers not to give grades at
all, if they could be avoided. I have not found a
way to do that, but I have been able to follow his
second-best advice: We recommend that teachers
not give a grade to individual activities but only to
the totality of a students work. . . . Make a blanket
judgment on the whole of a students work for the
marking period. This is easy to do when you look it
all over at once and confer with the student about it.
Bookkeeping for grades alone is minimal this way
(252). Once the standards-based, student-centered
system was up and running, I found Moffetts statement to be true. I was spending much less time on
bookkeeping and much more time conferring with
students and responding to their work.

Information for Students and Parents

When I first sent information about the new grading system home, I expected plenty of emails and
calls expressing concern. I wanted it to be clear that
I was trying something new and to allay concerns
without too much second-
guessing. After much
revision, the explanation amounted to less than

half a page in the course handouts (see Figure 1).

I received only a few inquiries from parents. When
these inquiries arrived, I thanked the parents for
their interest, listened carefully to their concerns,
provided additional detail, and held my breath.
Without exception, the response was something
along the lines of Makes sense.

Baseline Self-Evaluation
Early in the first marking period, I ask my students
to evaluate their current level of progress toward
mastery of the course standards. I use the students
self-evaluation to generate the first entries in the
grade book. These entries are revisited and revised in
conferences toward the end of the marking period.
I explain at the beginning of the year that scores for
one marking period will not be averaged with the
next. Instead, the scores will build throughout the
year to reflect the students progress.
A few students may exaggerate their level of
achievement but this can be cleared up with a little
good-natured feedback and some serious discussion.
Most students are honest and accurate about their
level of achievement. Students need to receive the
clear message that evaluation is a partnership between themselves and their teacher. They also need
to know that the teacher respects and acknowledges

Figure 1. Explanation of Grading System

Students earn points for engagement in the process of learning and for progress toward mastery of standards as
demonstrated by the students written and spoken performance and as documented by the students log and
portfolio. In addition, each marking period, there will be one or two reading exams that combine an essay prompt
with objective questions about texts, literary terms, and conventions of print. Each marking period will conclude with
a student-teacher conference based on log, portfolio, exam, and a reflective essay called State of the Student.
Students are expected to be active participants in the evaluation process. Students earn points for progress toward
mastery of each standard:
10 points = Documented mastery
9 points = Major documented progress
8 points = Documented progress
7 points = Documented attempt
Each students progress toward mastery of standards is then converted into a conventional grade percentage derived
from the number of points earned out of the total possible:
Performance Standards
150 possible points (10 each for 15 standards)
Collaboration Standards 80 possible points (10 each for 8 standards)
Reading Exams 50 to 100 possible points
State of the Student 50 possible points
Total

330 to 380 possible points

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A Better Grading System: Standards-B ased, Student-C entered Assessment

what they have already accomplished. The baseline

scores also make it plain that no one is starting
from scratch.
In the past I have drawn course standards
from a variety of sources, including local graduation standards, scoring criteria for standardized
tests, and skills identified as essential by the College Board. However, going forward I recommend
using the already widely adopted Common Core
State Standards. The anchor standards for reading,
writing, speaking and listening, and language provide a framework that students can use to determine just how college and career ready they are.

The anchor standards for writing are presented in

Figure 2 as a self-assessment chart. Similar charts
for reading, speaking and listening, and language
are available from jeanettamiller@gmail.com. For
the initial self-evaluation at the beginning of the
year, students will need to consider the standards in
small batches with teacher guidance.

Work in Progress
Students need timely feedback on work in progress that salutes original ideas, solid research, and
effective use of skills as well as offering sugges-

Figure 2. Self-Evaluation Chart for Writing

Please check the box that most accurately represents your current level of achievement:
10 = I have mastered this skill
9 = I have strong skills in this area
8 = I made good progress in this area last year
7 = I can do this with feedback and support from the teacher
??? = I have not been introduced to this skill
WritingText Types and Purposes

10

???

Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using

valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and
information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and
analysis of content.
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
WritingProduction and Distribution of Writing
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and
style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting,
or trying a new approach.
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to
interact and collaborate with others.
WritingResearch to Build and Present Knowledge
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused
questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the
credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding
plagiarism.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection,
and research.
WritingRange of Writing
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and
revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of
tasks, purposes, and audiences.

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Jeanetta Jones M iller

tions for improvement. This feedback can occur

in face-to-face conferences, in the margins of the
students work, and via email, using tools such as
Insert Comment. The student can also be invited
to provide information about the current status of
a writing project for the teacher. If the technology
is available to both teacher and students, I strongly
recommend asking students to send their work via
email so comments can be typed directly on the
project at hand instead of being handwritten. Students appreciate the detail and legibility of typed
comments. Another important benefit of receiving and responding to work online is that it can be
saved to a flash drive set up by class and by student,
so it takes just a moment to access the full array of
the students work.
A teacher may want to individualize each students writing experience but feel stymied about
how to handle due dates and late work. My suggestion here is to alternate periods of collaborative
classroom development of a work in progress with
periods of dialogue between teacher and student.
The teacher can say, Id like to begin responding
to your current work-in-progress this week. Please
get a draft to me as soon as you can. If I dont have
one within a week, we should talk about your situation. This approach does mean that the teacher
needs to log work in but makes it unnecessary to
set a single due date for all students and then figure
out how to enforce it with some form of penalty. I
have seen some really nice teachers, who wouldnt
dream of making an unkind comment to a student,
slash ten points per day of lateness from a 100-
point assignment, wreaking havoc with the students grade point average. If queried, the teacher
will say in all seriousness, Penalties for late work
teach an important life lesson, and It wouldnt be
fair to the other students not to take points off.
Another argument is that if theres no penalty for
lateness, students will wait until the end of the
marking period to turn in assignments. There are

natural consequences for putting work off and letting it pile up until its overwhelming. Most secondary students have learned the hard way not to
let this happen. I find that most of the work comes
in during the requested window, with only a few
students who need to talk about their situation. I
log the work with a simple matrix (see Figure 3),
so its easy to determine who needs follow-up with
me. This approach sends a clear message to students
that the teacher values thinking and writing more
than compliance. It also prevents the teacher from
feeling overwhelmed by five class sets of essays in
one day.

Anecdotal Record
The anecdotal record gives the teacher a place to
record narrative comments as well as notes on progress. In Figure 4, Ive included just two of many
narrative comments, one from the beginning of the
year and one toward the end. The anecdotal record
is a great help in preparing for parent conferences
and making placement recommendations.

Evaluation Conference
Toward the end of the first marking period, its important to set up appointments to confer with each
student about progress toward mastery of course
standards. The first evaluation conference will take
more time and planning than those later in the
year, but it is time well spent. Students who are
still dubious about an evaluation system that looks
at their work as a whole to determine progress will
be reassured by sitting with the teacher and talking in detail about how theyre doing. I recommend
emailing ahead of time a copy of the anecdotal
writing record and a request that students write
responses to questions that encourage reflection
and goal setting. Assuming the teacher has saved
all the drafts to a flash drive and can pull them up

Figure 3. Work in Progress: Sample Log of Student Work

Entrance
Interview

Occasional
Paper

Nonfiction
Narrative

Practice
Analysis

Image Project
Blog

How to . . .
Speech

Student A
Student Z

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Figure 4. Alternative to Average Grades: Sample Anecdotal Writing Record

Summer Essay

Info/Issues,
Narrative,
Writing on Lit

Argument
Illustrated w/
Scenarios

Character
Analysis

Researched
Nonfiction
Narrative

Produce
expository,
analytical, and
argumentative
compositions that
introduce a
complex central
idea and develop it
with appropriate
evidence drawn
from primary and/
or secondary
source material,
cogent
explanations, and
clear transitions

Resisted the idea

of showing
summer reading
instead of telling
about it

Solid central idea

about Dwight
Howard as role
model but only
one supporting
source

Solid central idea

about athletes as
role models,
supported with
two sources

Solid central
idea, insightful
comments about
Walter, some
text support

Predictable
central idea,
could go deeper
into the need to
challenge ones
self and father/
son rivalry

Demonstrate
understanding and
mastery of
standard written
English as well as
stylistic maturity in
their own writings

Fluent writer,
few errors

Fluent writer,
quite a few
errors

Fluent writer,
few errors

Fluent writer,
some errors

Fluent writer,
very few errors
(I instead of me)

Demonstrate
understanding of
the conventions of
citing primary and
secondary source
material

Could have
included a list of
books read but
not required

Problem with
format of
internal citation,
works cited entry
formatted
correctly

Cited web page

instead of article,
article instead of
author

Correctly
formatted
internal text
citations, no
citation of
background info,
no works cited

Apt footnotes,
works cited
correctly
formatted except
for title

28 September 2010: You are a fluent writer and you did a decent job with the summer reading composition. As you
will see from my comments, Id like you to add a scenario to the beginning and do a little more thinking about your
conclusion. (You may need to click on Insert and Comment in order to see my suggestions.) Id like to see these
changes within a week. In the meantime, please be thinking about a professional athlete who is a true role model,
unlike Roy Hobbes. Your next writing task will be to do some research and writing about this person.
9 May 2011: I like your low-key style. Im curious to know if youre the only one that gets banged up by these family
adventures or if the thrills and bruises are shared by other members of the family. It seems to me that there are some
deeper themes in your narrative that you could bring to the surface. One of them is your own desire to test yourself
against the odds. The other is the traditional idea that if we want our boys to grow into men they shouldnt be
coddled. It seems to me that your father has this idea in mind when he whips the tube around and hunts for the
biggest wave to challenge your nerve and resilience. Just a thought . . .

for reference, its simply a matter of student and

teacher putting their heads together over these documents and deciding what to enter in the second
column of the evaluation chart. (The first column
is the students self-evaluation from the beginning
of the year.) If the technology is not available, the
student can maintain a conventional writing folder
and bring that to the conference. As Moffett advised, the focus of the conference is the totality of

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the students work for the marking period, with

more emphasis on major projects and recent work
than on small activities and work done early in the
marking period. During our conference we might
agree not to evaluate standards for which there was
limited opportunity to demonstrate progress. Because scores build over the year rather than being
averaged, theres no need for a student to feel anxious about a low score at the beginning of the year.

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The original, handwritten version of the evaluation

chart will have numbers entered in the students
handwriting as often as my own because we pass
the pencil back and forth as we talk. Students who
have some lingering doubts about how this system
would work and whether or not it would be to their
benefit realize during the conferences how much influence they have over their scores. The evaluation
conference provides an opportunity for the teacher
to make it clear that the students strengths and
areas for growth are understood and the teacher is
proud of the students efforts to master the standards that are most challenging. As we talk, I add
two or three specific goals to the anecdotal writing
record, which I email to the student so we are on
the same page about next steps.
The time needed for conferences with students is balanced by the reduction in time needed
to grade and record individual assignments. The
teachers time is spent in the ways that matter most,
providing timely, specific, individual feedback and
working in partnership with students to evaluate
progress toward mastery of course standards.
The system I designed made it feasible to
leave blank any standard not attempted in a particular marking period if the student had worked
hard and simply didnt get around to one or two.
However, I have had to deal with some procrastinators and with one student who did not turn in any
written work. After consultations with the student,
parents, and guidance, I determined that it would
send the clearest message if I entered a zero for
standards related to the lack of written work, but
this was the only instance in which I used the zero.
The procrastinators get the message when they see
scores related to process and responsibility fall to
six or seven on a ten-point scale. At the end of each
marking period I used the Copy Assignment function to enter the standards in the grade book for
the next marking period and roll the final scores for
one marking period into the next, making good on
the promise that students would be able to build
on their scores. The grade at the end of the second
marking period was also the grade for the semester.
The semester final grades, like the marking period
grades, are not averaged. On a technical note, the
typical setting in an online grade book for semester
grades is 40-40-20, weighting each marking period
at 40 percent and the midterm or final exam at 20

percent. However, the weight can be set at 100 to

prevent averaging. It can also be set at 80-20 to
allow for a formal exam. In other words, for the
teacher who is interested, the technology to support alternatives to averaged grades is likely to be
an option already included in the system. All that is
needed is the teachers determination to implement
a better grading system, one that is accurate and
fair to students.

Reading Exams
To confirm the potentially more subjective evaluation of the students work as a whole, I ask students to sit for a fairly traditional reading exam
each marking period. I enter the reading exam as
a separate item in the electronic grade book. Typically the students score on the reading exam will be
within a few points of the standards-based score. If
there is a disparity between the two scores for a few
students, it is probably because they didnt bother
to review key terms or because they suffer from test
anxiety. In both cases I recommend offering a Form
B of the exam, giving those who didnt study a second chance to do so and using familiarity with the
exam format to lower anxiety. If there is a disparity
between the two scores for more than a few students,
the teacher needs to reflect on several questions: Did
the reading exam accurately represent what students
worked on in class? Was the exam well written so
students were not lured into incorrect or incomplete
responses by ambiguously worded questions and
prompts? Have the students standards-based scores
been skewed because there is too much emphasis on
affective skills and not enough on academic performance or vice versa? I recommend the use of recognition rather than recall items for the exam to not
penalize the students who have limited recall memory. When I ask for comments on the reading exams,
the majority of students say they like them because
the questions are fair and the formal exam gives
them a chance to see how much theyve learned from
another perspective. A standards-
based, student-
centered approach to assessment does not mean the
student will never experience a formal exam. The essential difference is that the teacher knows the purpose is to provide valuable feedback to students.
With her permission, I would like to end this
article with the conclusion a student named Quincy

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DeYoung wrote for her portfolio, letting a student

have the last word on what its like to learn without
the pressure of averaged grades:
I used to write for other people. I used to write
for the grade. Its sad to say but I did it often; my
writing had become such a constricted and construed mess from staying within the confines of
what I believed to be an A. It was not me; it was
an attempt to please. No stream of consciousness
because its not grammatical?
Okay.
Times New Roman, typed, 12 point font, no
exceptions?
Okay.
This year, however, has been different. This year
Ive seen writing treated as artwork, pieces of prose
treated as masterpieces; its as if students expressing
their innermost thoughts upon paper is too valuable a thing to have a letter stamped upon it. . . .
This year my writing skills have been honed, not
labeled. I have been given suggestions for my writ-

ing, and written feedback to strengthen my weak

points. Instead of fearing the rejection associated
with a B, I have stepped off the precipice and
taken risks. From daily read arounds to essential
question workshops, Ive learned to step out of my
comfort zone and voice topics that speak to me.
Works Cited

Marzano, Robert J. Transforming Classroom Grading. Alexandria: ASCD, 2000. Print.

Moffett, James, and Betty Jane Wagner. Student-Centered
Language Arts, K12. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook,
1992. Print.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices,
Council of Chief State School Officers. Common Core
State Standards. Washington: National Governors
Association Center for Best Practices, Council of
Chief State School Officers, 2010. Print.
Reeves, Douglas B. Leading to Change/Effective Grading
Practices. Educational Leadership 65.5 (2009):
8587. Web. 23 June 2013.
Wormeli, Rick. Fair Isnt Always Equal: Assessing and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom. Portland: Stenhouse, 2006. Print.

Jeanetta Jones Miller taught for 25 years in public schools in Albany, California, and Newtown, Connecticut, serving as
English department chair at Newtown High School from 2001 to 2011. Email her at jeanettamiller@gmail.com.

R E AD W R IT E T H IN K CO N N E C T IO N

Lisa Storm Fink, RWT

The article begins with a survey asking students where they see themselves in five years. This lesson plan from
ReadWriteThink.org also asks students to begin to think about their future. They further explore their thoughts by
answering a set of prewriting questions. Next, they read and discuss the poem Ex-Basketball Player by John
Updike, analyzing the details and the format of the poem. Students are then introduced to a writing assignment in
which they write a poem about themselves in five years. They write their poems and go through a series of peer
feedback and revisions. Two copies of the final versions of the poem are given to the teacherone for the portfolio and one to mail to students in five years. http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/
poem-possibilities-thinking-about-943.html

Help Shape NCTE Positions by Submitting a Resolution

If you have concerns about issues that affect your teaching or if youd like to see NCTE take a stand on a position you support, you have an opportunity to be heard! Propose a resolution that may be voted upon and
passed at NCTEs Annual Convention.
For further details on submitting a resolution, to see resolutions already passed by Council members, or
to learn about proposing position statements or guidelines other than resolutions, visit the NCTE website
(http://www.ncte.org/positions/call_for_resolutions) or contact Lori Bianchini at NCTE Headquarters (800369-6283, ext. 3644; lbianchini@ncte.org). Resolutions must be postmarked by October 15, 2013.
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