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Standards-Based Grading Cheat Sheet

This class is based on a method of assessment called Standards-Based Grading. The goal of this method is to have your numerical grade at the end of a term represent your mastery of the subject. Since this type of grading is so different from what you have likely experienced before, were including this cheat sheet to help you interpret your progress in the class.

Your Standing on Each Objective


After an assessment, your teacher will indicate your progress on each objective using a 0 2 number scale.
0: No mastery has been shown. 1: Developing mastery. This score could indicate that you are missing part of a conceptual understanding, and/or that you have made an error in reasoning or in your process. 2: Mastery has been shown.

Your standing on each standard can always go up or down as new data is collected. When it comes time to translate your mastery into a number grade, only the most recent measurement will count. You will always have a chance to try again with each skill (all the way up to the examyour final assessment of each semester). Because it is important to develop carefulness and good habits in your written work, calculation errors and similar mistakes will usually be measured as 1 instead of 2. Dont worry, though! If your conceptual understanding is solid, you will be able to update your standing quickly and easily on subsequent tests.

Levels of Objectives and Numerical Grades


Each objective is categorized as an RED or BLACK. These categories serve to show you which skills are the most fundamental, and they help you to plan a path toward the final numerical grade that you want to receive.
RED: These are the core skills of the course. You must master each (and every one) of these by the end of the year in order to earn a grade above 70. BLACK: These skills usually depend on mastering the A-level skills. They are the meat of the physics content. You must master each (and every one) of these by the end of the year to earn a grade above 90.

Our translation from your standing on a slew of objectives to a 0 to 100 grade is based on the RED and BLACK objectives, plus the work you show synthesizing and transferring your knowledge, as indicated in their descriptions. We will interpolate between the 70 and 93 grades based on your mastery of the BLACK objectives. Grades above 93 represent depth of understanding and the ability to synthesize across multiple models (as measured on goal-less problems).
Final Grade < 70 70 (lowest D) 80 (lowest C) 88 (lowest B) 93 (lowest A) 100 What it means Have not shown mastery on every RED objective Shown mastery on every RED objective but none of the BLACK objectives Shown mastery on every RED objective and less than half of the BLACK objectives Shown mastery on every RED objective and half of the BLACK objectives Shown mastery on every RED and BLACK objective Shown mastery on every RED and BLACK objective and shown exceptional depth and creativity on open-ended problems.

The table gives you an idea of some benchmarks for the final grade assigned.

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