Grading for Learning (G4L)

Standards-Based Practices and Reporting

What is it?

A standards-based progress report lists the most important skills students should learn in each subject at a particular grade level. Every course will identify overarching power standards (described below) that we want all students to be proficient in at each grade level. Learning/work habits play an important role in a student’s success.

In the AASD we refer to those habits as Career and Life Skills. Career and Life Skills are also an important factor in your student’s preparation for college and careers.

Communicating with you using a separate mark indicating your student’s Career and Life Skills in each course shows the importance of these skills. We will report progress in Career and Life Skills using the following three categories: social and cross-cultural; productivity and accountability; initiative and self-direction. 

Instead of overall letter grades, students receive marks that show how well they have mastered the standard/expectation and the progress they have made in mastering the standard/expectation.

The marks will show whether the student has: 1-minimal progress; 2-progressing toward; 3-meeting; or 4-exceeding for each standard/expectation.

Why are we doing this?

While letter grades seem “understandable” to parents, they give only limited information about what the students have learned or can do, are dependent on teacher and parent interpretation, and can be focused only on surface knowledge rather than deep understanding and application.

Considering an “average” to determine the final marking or grade may not be reflective of the final learning. A standards-based approach allows teachers to use information from a variety of assessments to evaluate student learning.

The information, when shared with the student and parents, gives a more detailed picture of what a child can do and what he/she needs to work on to progress.

This ten minute video articulates the importance of a growth mindset (verses a fixed mindset) which fits our philosophy of developing skills in our students that are outlined in our standards. Students (and adults) are more apt to grow and learn with productive feedback on activities.



This video gives details and share a specific example of how grading for learning benefits the students.