Courtesy of San Benito High School:
San Benito High School’s grading practices philosophy, which this year expanded to include most freshman and sophomore classes, has at its core a goal to motivate students to grow and learn after receiving feedback on their work. Since academic grades are based on student proficiency rather than non-academic factors, students and parents are given a snapshot of student academic performance based on four main ideas:
- Students will be provided feedback regarding progress and learning.
- Students will have multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning.
- Academic and citizenship/work habits performance will be graded separately.
- Students will receive an academic grade on a rubric scale of 0 to 4, with citizenship/work habits grades as letters (O for outstanding, S for satisfactory, N for needs improvement and U for unsatisfactory).
The school’s grading practices philosophy considers grading a form of feedback, so students in classes using the 0 to 4 scale are given multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery based on the belief that grades should reflect competency (understanding) rather than compliance (simply finishing work). Using grading as feedback not only documents student progress but informs teachers’ instructional decisions.
Grading practices are just a part of San Benito High School’s Whole System Collaboration model, which has at its core student learning and achievement. Click the link below to see a graphic of the model.
