Standards Referenced Grading

Parents and students have shared that they desire fair and consistent grading practices across the district. Traditional grading practices depend entirely on what an individual teacher determines should be measured, which means two students doing identical work could earn different grades depending on the classroom teacher.  By implementing Standards-Referenced Grading (SRG), consistent grading practices are established across the district based on the achievement of what students should know and are able to do at each grade level.

Standards-referenced grading only focuses on reporting what students have learned and are able to do. In comparison, traditional grading typically averages student work and uses extra factors to determine a final grade. At the elementary and middle school levels, behavior factors (social skills, turning in and completing assignments, and effort) are reported separately during conferences. IKM-Manning maintains that these are important aspects for success in school and life but should not inflate or deflate a student’s academic grade intended to reflect their understanding of what is being taught in class. Teachers will use proficiency scales and established grading practices when implementing standards-referenced grading.

These practices will be revisited annually to ensure the effective and consistent implementation of grading and reporting student learning.

This website will be updated as the Standards-Referenced Grading implementation progresses. Please see the additional links below to better understand Why we are making this change.