This collection of frequently asked questions is updated as new questions come up.

Why are we doing this?

Q: How many other Virginia school systems are using SBG? How many nationally?

A: There is not a known database of schools who are using this system, but we are not an anomaly. Entire school districts in places such as Colorado, Iowa, Vermont, and Utah have conquered this with success. In 2019, nearby Arlington County adopted the practice for all its elementary schools.

Q: How will the students learn and be assessed in math, when there are clear answers and an ability to judge whether they understand the concepts?

A: The subject-specific criteria (standards) offer a holistic look at how students approach learning and demonstrate understanding in all subject groups. Criterion A, in most subjects, checks general content knowledge, while the remaining criteria assess how students are applying skills and content knowledge in real-world situations. Students will receive a grade for each criterion so they can understand their strengths and areas for improvement as learners.

Approaches to Learning

Q: What is “ATL” and how does that work?

A: Approaches to learning. The five skills that will be reported on are:

1. Communication - Exchanging thoughts, messages and information effectively through interaction
2. Collaboration - Working effectively with others
3. Organization - Managing time and tasks effectively
4. Affective - Managing state of mind
5. Reflective - Re-considering what has been learned; choosing and using ATL skills

Q: How much weight does the ATL grade carry (% of grade)?

A: None. ATL are a separate report of how students approach their learning in the class. Standards-based grading distinguishes between behavior and academic achievement so that the grade is a more accurate reflection of learning. The ATL are reported separately from the subject criteria (A, B, C, D) grades. How a student approaches learning is vital to supporting growth academically and social-emotionally, so we believe explicitly teaching and reporting on these skills is important, but it will not factor into the academic grade.

Q: How does separating the behavior grade from the academic grade set students up for the “real world” where behavior relates to performance?

A: By separating ‘behaviors’ from the grade, we can see a more accurate report of what the students know, understand and can apply academically. They will then receive a report about how they have approached their learning in each class, quarterly. By separating ‘behaviors’ from the grade, we can see a more accurate report of what the students know, understand and can apply academically. They will then receive a report about how they have approached their learning in each class, quarterly.

Q: Not all children are communicators or collaborators. How can they benefit from SBG?

A: Our SBG system at FCCPS is designed to help build and assess the whole child. Teachers develop learning activities to help all students grow - not just in content knowledge, but in their approaches to learning as well. Parents, students, and teachers can work to develop those skills and provide more individualized feedback in regard to those areas.

Additionally, because the system is balanced and because it is designed to separate behavior from academic achievement, no student's academic achievement would ever be impacted by weak communication skills, for example.

Q: What does managing state of mind mean?

A: Managing state of mind encompasses how we approach, respond and react to situations. This includes:

• Mindfulness awareness
  • Practice focus and concentration
  • Practice strategies to develop mental focus
  • Practice strategies to overcome distractions
  • Practice being aware of body–mind connections
• Perseverance
  • Demonstrate persistence and perseverance
  • Practice delaying gratification
• Emotional management
  • Practice strategies to overcome impulsiveness and anger
  • Practice strategies to prevent and eliminate bullying
  • Practice strategies to reduce stress and anxiety
• Self-motivation
  • Practice analysing and attributing causes for failure
  • Practice managing self-talk
  • Practice positive thinking
• Resilience
  • Practice “bouncing back” after adversity, mistakes and failures
  • Practice “failing well”
  • Practice dealing with disappointment and unmet expectations
  • Practice dealing with change

Q: How are students recognized for their effort of homework, participation, etc. along the way?

A: Students receive a quarterly report for five skills that correspond to how they are approaching their learning. Because homework may still be recorded and reported, both teacher and student have an understanding of how students are doing with regard to work completion along the way. Participation can also be tracked, as teachers have done for years, either formally or informally in a grade book. Explicit teaching of Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills means students are no longer simply expected to participate or do homework, they receive explicit teaching and feedback about what that looks like for their grade level.

How can I see progress?

Q: Does the assessment progress over the academic year, or over the assessment period. In other words, are they … at ‘expert’ in a given quarter or year?

A: Progress toward mastery is reported quarterly, but the curriculum progresses over the academic year. Students will be assessed against the criteria (standards) multiple times to demonstrate their progress toward mastery over the course of the year.

Q: I heard that one aspect of Standards-Based Grading involves assessments at the end of the quarter to have greater weight than those at the beginning (thus emphasizing progress, with the drawback that one bad test at the end of the quarter could be pretty devastating to a grade). Is this true?

A: False. There is no more weighting or % or averaging. No summative task weighs more than another.

Q: In the example shown at the first PTA meeting (9/17/19), in most cases the score in Task 5 was what was reported. But there was one case where the Task 5 score was 7 but the reported score was 6. Could you explain some more about how that works?

A: Students’ final grades are based on teacher’s informed professional judgment, based on sufficient evidence from the student’s body of work. This body of evidence is a variety of assessment tasks which ask students to develop and build on their learning as they grow.

In this example, until the latest summative task where the student received a ‘7,’ she was working at a ‘4’ level. The content may have been more attainable for her so that she was able to accurately apply her knowledge and skills in the summative task right before reporting, but since this was not a consistent demonstration for her leading up to reporting, the teacher used descriptors from the course’s rubric to determine she was a ‘6’ at the time of reporting.

Q: Is it true that the most recent scores are what will "count"? So if you get a 3,5,6,7 you end up with a 7. How will it work if a student (for examples) gets a 6,7,7,5. They end up with a 5. But what if that student just didn't connect with the material in the 4th quarter as much or had difficulty with something specifically being taught that quarter (but they had mastery over the 1st three). That seems very de-motivating and lots of extra pressure for that 4th quarter, since it overrides everything. Am I understanding it correctly?

A: Because the final grade is based on a body of evidence from throughout the learning period, the teacher would review the work and use professional judgment to determine the grade for each criterion (A, B, C, D).

It’s not just the 4th quarter that counts - it’s the overall end of course that counts. We calculate the overall by adding up the grades A + B+ C + D = overall IB.

In this case, if these are the students’ final grades for the year/semester, etc:

Student #1 = 20 = 5 = B

Student #2 = 25 = 6 = A

Q: Will feedback on formative assignments be provided throughout the quarter? What should parents and students expect?

A: Yes, teachers are designing the method for formative feedback in their Collaborative Teams. That method will be communicated to parents and students and will then be entered for formative assessments in the Schoology gradebook.

Q: Do deadlines and attendance still matter?

A: Yes, absolutely. For ages, schools have taught classroom behaviors and life skills. But by embedding these into a student’s overall grade, it compromises the validity of of the grade, which is meant to reflect what a student knows and can do within a particular discipline.

At FCCPS, we believe adherence to deadlines and attendance, for example, are critical skills students need to develop to be successful in school and beyond. A student’s success in these areas likely will have a positive impact on their academic learning. However, by separating these from an academic grade, we believe we can provide students and parents with a clearer more accurate portrait of the learner and provide some concrete action steps for how to improve in these areas.

Feedback and "Body of Evidence"

Q: If I taught my college course with one summative assessment, I'd probably be sacked. This seems like an extreme application of formative versus summative assessments. How are you ensuring this is an improved model for student stress/anxiety around the final "exam"?

A: There is no final exam that carries an abundance of weight on a student’s grade. Summative assessment tasks are offered several times in the year, against the specific subject criteria for the subject, so students have an opportunity to develop and demonstrate mastery throughout the course. There isn’t just 1 Criterion B summative task, for example.

Q: Does Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology accept standards-based grades for students applying to that school?

A: Answer: Since grades are going to be converted on transcripts and report cards, there will be no change in how TJHSST receives information about students who apply.