Formative Feedback from Standards-Based Grades

In the previous chapter I analysed and discussed the way students largely saw letter grades as the product of behavioural measures with similar

behavioural themes in feedback about future learning. This behavioural theme appeared minimally in comments about the formulation of SBGs, represented by observations that a grade of Meeting meant that “you worked hard and focused” (Grade 5 Autumn 2017, 5-11), while a Progressing resulted from a student “…not listening, or talking too much” (Grade 5 Winter 2018, 5-K). Conversely, while students rarely expressed that their letter grades were made up of learning constructs, they frequently associated learning with the formulation of SBGs. Students expressed that a Beginning meant that “You don't really understand the topic…(Grade 8 Autumn 2017, 8-L), “You're missing some big understanding” (Grade 8 Autumn 2017, 8-K) and that a student “…really needs a lot of help because they're probably not really understanding what they're trying to do” (Grade 5 Winter 2018, 5-K). Similarly, a Progressing grade meant that you “…haven't learned everything” (Grade 5 Autumn 2017, 5-10) and caused one student to “…get worried because I obviously didn't learn enough and I should be at Meeting but I'm not” (Grade 7 Autumn 2017, 7-K).

Beyond associating learning with the formulation of standards-based grades, many students also interpreted SBGs as feedback about their learning.

One aspect of this was the recognition that the names of SBGs were

definitionally linked to their current standing in a learning progression. This sentiment was expressed in comments of “it’s all in the name” (Grade 8 Winter 2018, 8-10), and

The standards actually have the meaning. Meeting means meeting the expectations, Extending is doing above, Beginning is you're kind of beginning to get it, and Progressing is also you're progressing to do it. So basically, the standards are the definition (Grade 5 Winter 2018, 5-K). Connected to these definitions of standards, many students expressed that they represented a year-long progression of learning. In essence, a standards- based grade and report card “shows how you've progressed” (Grade 5 Autumn 2017, 5-J). When asked about the grade of Progressing, a student commented, “… at the beginning of the year I'm okay with Progressing, like, I know I'll still have time to grow and get to Meeting, which is where I want to be” (Grade 8 Winter 2018, 8-11). Other students echoed that the end goal of this progression was a grade of Meeting, which “is where you want to be at the end of the unit, or the end of the curriculum” (Grade 7 Winter 2018, 7-K).

In the previous chapter I discussed the disconnect between letter grades and the corresponding rubrics, even though those rubrics were systemically in use at SIS. A key element of SBGs as formative feedback was that many students associated SBGs with assessment rubrics, often to such a degree that they

amalgamated the two constructs. As one student stated, “The standards are the rubric” (Grade 7 Autumn 2017, 7-J). Students who made this connection

commonly recognized that the rubrics held information to identify their current standing and also guide their next steps in learning. This link was represented by a student who shared, “One thing I find very useful about standards-based reporting is they give you the rubrics…and you can understand how you can achieve all of the standards” (Grade 8 Autumn 2017, 8-10). Another student commented that a vignette character looking at a rubric containing standards-

based grades “…knows exactly what he needs to do in the future and what he has already mastered” (Grade 8 Autumn 2017 8-M).

Often, students who recognized that SBGs and rubrics held valuable information about their current standing and next learning steps contrasted this dynamic with static letter grades, which they saw as missing this formative information:

I kind of think that having Extending/Progressing/Meeting thing, I think it's actually really helpful when you have a rubric because it tells you what you need to do to achieve that goal, instead of just saying, "you need to get a 35% to get a D or something (agreement) (Grade 5 Winter 2017, 5- 1).

I don't think a letter grade means anything. When you see a letter, that doesn't necessarily represent something. When you have standards-based grades, it explains kind of what fits in this category [on the rubric] so that you know what's the difference between what I'm doing and what I can do to improve. And so I think that using a standards-based grading system is better overall (Grade 6 Winter 2017, 6-A).

As represented in the following quote, some student comments revealed the extent to which standards-based grades were associated with the rubric and letter grades were not:

Well with standards-based, say you want to meet, then it says what you have to do exactly. Whereas with a letter grade, there's no description for each letter” (Grade 8 Autumn 2017, 8-K).

Some students who associated SBGs with the corresponding rubrics were able to reconcile the school’s hybrid SBRC which combined letter grades and standards-based grades (see chapters three and five). They accepted that these were two different grading systems with SBGs “separated from letter grades – they’re not the same thing” (Grade 6 Winter 2018, 6-11). Other students

articulated this reconciliation further, best represented by this comment:

The rubric is structured differently than just giving A's, B's, C's, D's...you can't compare the two together because you're more, you're specializing more, you're saying more with where [students] are on the rubric, whereas the A you're just giving a grade, so I don't think that you can compare the two, it's kind of like comparing a drink and food. You just can't compare the two because one's a solid, one's a liquid, it just doesn't make sense (Grade 5 Winter 2018, 5-10).

Within this new formative framework some students had constructed of SBGs linked to rubrics, SBGs were much “more precise and help you grow more” than their “vague” (Grade 7 Autumn 2017, 7-J) letter grade counterparts, which caused SBGs to be seen as fluid and malleable when compared to the permanent labels of letter grades. As a result, some students felt that receiving a standards-based grade “makes it less feel like you're boxed in” (Grade 6 Autumn 2017, 6-12) than receiving a letter grade.

Student comments revealed positive social-emotional benefits for those who were able to focus on the formative feedback of SBGs through rubrics. These students believed that feedback from standards came in a “positive light” (Grade 8 Winter 2018, 8-10), and that compared to receiving letter grades, it was not “so rough” (Grade 8 Winter 2017, 8-B). Another student commented that standards-based feedback through a rubric “boosts your confidence…[and would] encourage kids to keep going” (Grade 5 Winter 2018, 5-10) a lot more than letter grades. Whereas undesirable letter grades had been identified as high stakes labels of ability associated with negative repercussions for well-being, some students shared that “Beginning means you're starting to understand it, it doesn't mean that oh no you definitely failed this, you're the worst” (Grade 6 Winter 2018, 6-11) and “I've got things to learn, it's okay" (Grade 7 Autumn 2017, 7-12). Students comments extended this standards-based well-being upgrade to other grades: “…when you see Meeting you're still proud of yourself, whereas when you get a B, you feel like you're not as smart as when you see Meeting” (Grade 5 Autumn 2016, 5-C). Likewise, with Progressing:

Well, if you compare a C to a Progressing, doesn't a C sound a lot worse than Progressing? (CHORUS OF YES'S) Like Progressing is like you're working on it. But if you think C, they put you on academic probation (Oh crepes!!! This isn't going to work out for me!). But really, you're just

working on the subject and you're not that bad at it. But from the point of view of a letter grade it sounds a lot worse than it actually is (Grade 6 Autumn 2017, 6-12).

Another student elaborated on the relationship between well-being and the access to formative feedback - or lack thereof - found in the two different grading systems:

…[Standards-based grades] would definitely help [the vignette character] understand and maybe get some more stress off of them, because they'll actually know exactly what to do instead of just like, "I know exactly what to do but I always get a mediocre grade and not a good one" (Grade 8 Winter 2017, 8-C).