Wautoma Area School District administrators and teachers have looked to improve instruction and assessment with the ultimate goal of increasing student achievement. As the foundation of the process, we have defined the purpose of grades, researched best practices, confirmed our core grading beliefs, and established core grading commitments.
We believe the purpose of grades is to communicate student achievement, identify areas of strength, and guide improvement.
We believe our academic grades should be...
Consistent: Objectively assess academic performance across all classrooms.
Accurate: Solely reflect a clearly communicated curriculum with evidence-based common assessments.
Meaningful: Communicate clear information to guide improvement.
Current: Be based on the most recent evidence.
Collaboratively develop curriculum and assessments
Separate work and people skills from academic grades
Allow opportunities for reassessment
Only use summative assessments to calculate academic grades
Evaluate learning targets and work and people skills using proficiency scales
These beliefs and commitments led us to the decision to implement target-based grading districtwide, beginning in the 2022-2023 school year.
Target-based grading is a growth-mindset approach to teaching and learning, based on the expectation that everyone can learn. Target-based learning and grading focuses on communicating a student’s proficiency on defined academic learning targets and providing specific, actionable feedback to help students continue to improve their understanding of the learning targets. By refocusing classroom learning and assessment on clear learning targets and providing opportunities to demonstrate proficiency, target-based grading encourages students to take charge of their own learning.
Unlike traditional grading that simply averages grades or scores, a target-based grading system measures a student’s most recent proficiency on a particular learning target. In the traditional grading model, students who increase their proficiency are penalized, as early scores are averaged together with more proficient scores later in the course. Therefore, by using the most recent evidence to determine grades, target-based reporting gives a more accurate picture of what a student knows and is able to do in relation to the course learning targets and naturally rewards students who demonstrate increased understanding of the course content.
Target-based grading separates academic achievement and Work and People Skills in order to give a more accurate report of student progress.