ISD 279 School Board Learns About Standards Based Grading Concerns

District 279 school board members received an update on the implementation of Standards Based Grading during a Jan. 8 school board meeting.

Osseo Area Schools is about half-way through it’s three year plan to fully implement the grading system, which relies heavily on academic achievement.

Wendy Biallas-Odel, Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Standards (CEIS) director, and Kris Rouleau, CEIS coordinator, presented the update, which included recaps about what teachers think of the process so far and next steps.

According to the CEIS report, after interviewing 50 groups of teachers, principals and students, concerns about the zero to four scale, second opportunities and the writing of assessments were identified.

As part of Standards Based Grading, all students can receive a second opportunity to complete a task. The highest mark between the two tasks is the grade recorded. According to Rouleau, some teachers are noticing that students may not fully prepare for a particular assessment because they know they can simply do it again.

“We have worked with teachers to come up with language they could use in the syllabus to encourage student investment in preparing for the assessment the first time,” Rouleau told the school board.

In direct response to the concerns about Standards Based Grading so far, the district has formed a secondary grading task force comprised mostly of teachers. So far, the group is working to make recommendations about grading practices and the grading scale.

On Jan. 16, the task force will meet again and on Feb. 22 the Standards Based Grading committee will meet and review year three benchmarks.  

Rouleau said that a teacher survey will be launched later this week.

Related Articles:

• POLL: Year 2 - How is the Standards-Based Grading System Working in the Osseo School District?
• Parents Express Concern About ISD 279 Standards Based Grading
• ISD 279: School Board Discusses Standards Based Grading at Work Session

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