Skip To Main Content

Family Standards-Based Grading Information

At Eagle County School District, we believe grades should be consistent and meaningful for students, families, and teachers to gain important information about student learning. Standards-Based Grading revolves around grades that are based on academic proficiency and more fairly reflects student achievement.

This Standards-Based Grading work is rooted in our pursuit of equity. Grading in ECSD dignifies our students by telling them exactly where they are academically and what they need to be successful. Our practices promote the most aspirational thinking of what students are capable of, regardless of
their race, first language, family’s income, or their previous educational experiences. In this system, students are not punished for mistakes during the learning process. With an emphasis on continual improvement through clear feedback and a culture of revision, students gain hope and motivation to be as successful as possible. We want to shift away from students being concerned with, “what grade did I get?”, and instead focus on, “what did I learn?”.

Student ownership of learning increases as the instructional focus shifts from attaining a grade to learning relevant concepts and skills. These practices strengthen student-teacher partnerships through building trust and shared understanding, which is foundational to a safe, respectful learning environment.

We are committed to designing proficiency scales to determine a student's level of understanding for specific grade level topics. Proficiency scales, like the one pictured below, outline the progression of learning goals for students and the expectations for each level.

  Proficiency Level  

Descriptor

  Numerical Score  

Exemplary
  • Consistently and independently demonstrates proficiency of the grade level standard; and
  • Provides evidence of high level thinking using content concepts and skills; or
  • Transfers and/or synthesizes concepts and skills applying them to different situations or contexts 

4

Meeting
  • Consistently and independently demonstrates proficiency of the grade level standard 

  • Applies knowledge and skills to ideas and processes in familiar situations

3

Developing

  • Demonstrates developing proficiency in the grade level standard

  • Approaches understanding of concepts and skills

  • Works toward independence, sometimes needs teacher intervention

2

Beginning

  • Demonstrates limited proficiency in the grade level standard, concepts, and skills

  • Usually needs additional teacher intervention

1

No Evidence

  • No evidence of meeting standard yet

0
 

While some schools will be piloting the Standards-Based Learning Program in full this year, others will be taking initial steps towards our common end goal of grades that are accurate, consistent, and support learning by clearly communicating a student’s proficiency of academic content. Eagle County School District is committed to designing assessments aligned to a robust curriculum, providing high quality instruction and opportunities for students to revise based on timely feedback, and transparent reporting of progress for students and families.

Five Principles of Grading