Points vs. Mastery: The Effects of Standards Based Grading

Every few years, a new trend in education emerges that aims to help a greater number of students to succeed in the classroom. There was “No Child Left Behind Act” in 2001, followed by Common Core State Standards in 2009, and finally the newest innovation in standards-based grading, currently being implemented in classrooms. This grading style requires teachers to adhere to specific standards set by the state and school district. There has been a controversial debate in previous studies as to whether standards-based grading is beneficial towards students’ deeper learning (Jones, 2013) or distracts students from success (Peters, 2017). This study was conducted in an urban high school in a United States History classroom with twenty-two sophomore students. Formative assessments, summative assessments, and observational journals were analyzed to determine mastery of content and student reaction to the grading style. This study argues that although standards-based grading focuses on mastery of content, it has little effect on student learning.