This is my first "blog" and I've decided to tackle what has been a hot topic this year- Standards Based Grading. Four years ago, the administrators in the Raymond School District were given the task of changing our grading system from the traditional one to a more individual system. The first year our committee consisted of parents, students, teachers, administrators with our Curriculum Coordinator, Jon Hall, leading our group. We spent this first year researching, reading, and discussing with staff what this change would look like. We found examples of Standards Based Report Cards from around the country and shared them with our teachers. Everyone had a say in how we would proceed. Many questions were asked and research was done to answer them.
The second year, our group began the job of putting together a report card that would embody all of the beliefs we hold as teachers: our students want to learn, the need to fill in gaps in a student's learning, and the opportunity to make mistakes and then correct them. We asked ourselves and the school community how we could ensure that we had differentiated instruction, a process to fill in gaps, and a better way to communicate with parents about their student's learning achievements. We began lining up the important standards that need to be met at each grade level in each course. Teachers needed to collaborate on this and took a good, hard look at our curriculum. Of all the things that happened over this time, the attention to our curriculum benefited the most.
The third year, 2012-2013, was a year of developing a report card for each school, writing rubrics, piloting Power School Standards Based Grading Reports, and presenting the new report cards to parents. The Technology Department spent considerable time programing for the new report cards and putting standards into Power School. They were also responsible for setting up a test server for teachers to try out the new reporting method.
At the beginning of this school year, all teachers had training on using Power School to report grades. We knew that this first year of using the new grades could be difficult for everyone: change can be hard. We also knew we would need to "tweak" our work to make it better for everyone. Now we have completed a survey of both parents and teachers and will be addressing the concerns. If you would like to take part in our Public Forum, it will be held on April 30, 2014 in the Raymond High School Cafeteria at 7:00. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.
Ellen Small
Administrator in Charge of Superintendent Services
