Grading

Philosophy

In District 100, we believe student achievement occurs through clearly defined standards and authentic learning opportunities. The district strives to provide accurate, meaningful and timely feedback to both students and parents throughout the learning process.

Proficiency-based grading communicates how students perform on a set of clearly defined learning targets called standards. The purpose of proficiency-based grading is to identify what a student knows, or is able to do, in relation to those learning targets – as opposed to simply averaging grades/scores over the course of the grading period, which can mask what a student has learned or not learned.

Proficiency-based grading reports what students should know and be able to do within each content area at each grade level. The real-time monitoring of student performance reflects a more accurate picture of student achievement. Other reasons for proficiency-based grading include:

• Current methods of grading do not accurately indicate what a student knows and is able to do.
• Students will be able to explain what they learned or did not learn rather than recite a percentage.
• It can benefit all learners - students who struggle and accelerated learners.
• Parents are provided information on specific standards while receiving meaningful feedback