Standards- Based Grading

[ajuelmen]

I'm looking to connect with other schools who are using Canvas with standards based grading.  We used Learning Mastery this year with a few pilot teachers, but are having difficulty getting it to report out as we'd like.  I'd like to hear how you are setting up your proficiency scale, rubrics aligned to outcomes and assignments for optimal use by teachers yet understanding and easy access for parents and students.  Thanks!

[kona · Accepted solution]

 @ajuelmen , I'm not that familiar with Standards Based grading in Canvas and how it works, but I did a little research and found the following discussions/information that I thought might be helpful.

• Standards Based Grading with Rubrics 
• K-12 Standards Based Grading with Outcomes 
• Standards-based Grading and Quizzes 
• https://community.canvaslms.com/message/89649-standards-based-grading-outcomes 

Hope this helps!

Kona

[tom_chambers]

@SethnaR, Here is a link to the meeting we had: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1StjCaWiVhJPpHKETyWLccnarA9OBthZk/view?ts=5f5a18c2. 

Brian and Amy provided their solutions to the reporting of SBG using Canvas. We have continued to discuss ideas and options for using the outcomes and rubics as well as "translating" the SBG to traditional letter grades, which is always a "sticky" process. 

There are a number of ways to approach this and a lot of the decision process comes down to what your roll-out process is for your particular district/community. All the best!

[ahamiltonwebb]

This is what my school settled on for SBG in Canvas:

• Create each assignment as complete/incomplete and select "do not count this assignment toward the grade". This way there are no points that might show up in the traditional gradebook, so the traditional points-based score remains blank through the semester.
• Create a rubric for each assignment based on outcomes (standards) that we defined locally.
• Ask students to calculate their own average SBG scores from the learning mastery gradebook. Unfortunately Canvas does not have a feature (that I'm aware of) to produce this average automatically. I teach at a high school, so it's not much of a stretch to ask our students to calculate an average. Your mileage may vary.
• Teachers download student reports from the learning mastery gradebook and import these into Excel. In Excel (or equivalent), use a fairly straightforward calculation to average across the cells of outcomes to calculate the average SBG score, which we translate to a letter grade using our own scale.

This is not as easy as I would prefer, but it's good enough. It's our first semester trying this approach after switching to Canvas this summer. 

[TaylorSteed]

I am curious to know whether or not this has changed from 2020 for you and if so what changes you have made? Have you had any improvements to setup/ease of gradebook setup since your first go? I am trying to switch to an SBG gradebook but the current gradebook I have is not cutting it for me. Thanks in advance!

[JennZanoria]

Hi there! I am also curious if you have any changes to your best practice guide?

[JessicaYork]

My school district is participating in a canvas piolit. Our elementary school report cards are CCSS based. I am struggling to find to include standards in the canvas report card that successfully import into the PowerSchool report card. Any help would be appreciated. 

Thanks! 

Jessica.york@rrps.net 

[paxton_helms]

Hi, Gang.  I teach in suburb of DC and we are now in our second year of trying to implement SBG.  It has been very difficult and very complex --Canvas is really not designed to work with all-in SBG.

That said, I have learned a LOT by trial and error, discussion board, and finding the right Canvas support person.  And, I am happy to share what I have learned.

So, please include me on any future conversations or get-togethers!  I would love to learn from others and share some of the insights and best practices that I have figured out.

Cheers,

Paxton

paxton.helms@apsva.us

[stacy_lambert]

HI all, 

This is in preparation for next year - getting back into Learning Mastery etc for my Year 7 classes (first year HS - NSW Syllabus - Australia). I have just started drafting these for each outcome that the students have to meet. The descriptors are a combination of the syllabus dot points, NSW Languages performance descriptors, rubrics from previous assessment tasks, old capacity matrix work and whatever else came into my head.  I am getting the work checked as this is only a draft, but if this helps where people are thinking or if anyone has feedback, that would be great. I am in the process of looking for / writing definitions for Mastery that will be digestible for students and parents (and better than the ones in the top line 😁.

Attempting "I can" statements to use in the rubrics - again for kids - but the language is a bit to hard at the moment.

Happy reading!

Cheers

Stacy

[JennZanoria]

This has been so helpful to read through the thread! We are wrapping our first year with Canvas and one department uses the LMG portion. It has proven to be quite the struggle at points. 

We recently learned (as we wrap up the year), that entering scores when using decaying average is tied to the point of entry, not the due date of the assignment. I had been misinformed by a support person that it was tied to the due date, so you can imagine the upset! What is the best approach to entering retake or reassessment scores? 

[ajuelmen]

@jvulcano, @talanglie, @Bottrr, @bbennett2, @adrienneturner, @TaylorSteed, @tom_chambers, @AlizaNagelhout, @Ahamiltonwebb, @NeQuelle, @Mroberts13, @StephWagner, @SethnaR, @JessicaYork, @JennZanoria, @paxton_helms, @stacy_lambert, @Timothy_Kohl

We all seem to be in similar places with using Canvas and standards based grading and looking for best practices with ease of use- based on replies to this thread.  I'm looking to organize a Meet to share how we are each doing this with hopes we can form our own community and learn from each other.  Also, create a group to go to for support and questions- since we talk the same language (SBG, PBG, Competency grading)!

If you are interested in a Meet, please complete this Doodle with available times in the next few weeks as well as contact info. Be sure to include your name and email after you select the days/times that work for you.  Then, from those interested, I'll send an invite and agenda!  

Looking forward to connecting!

[JennZanoria]

I'm so sorry I missed this! I'd still be interested in meeting or getting some sort of email group together! 

[MarcCollins]

The issue we are running into is the lack of authority teachers have to assign certain assignments/artifacts to count more towards an outcome/standard than others. There are some cool options on how to calculate the overall score, like decaying average, top # after mastery achieved, average, highest score, latest score... etc. But no Weighted Average for which the teacher would control the weight. See link below for the feature request I submitted.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1k61XXYphlW1bEqWadjuyBU0BmCYG2QjFUGsChn7Q_Ok/edit?usp=sharing

[CTEGIDCS]

Sequoia Union High School District entered into a contract with either instructure or a third part y to develop a tool that streamlines the mastery gradebook into assignments by standard in the traditional gradebook. The tool was rolled this semester with some bugs, but it is huge time saver.

[MarcCollins]

Hello!

I am interested in more details. Can you share the name of the 3rd party, or more details if it was through instructure? Maybe a screen recording of it in use?

thank you!

[laura_clark]

Hi, David. Do you have additional details that you can share about this custom solution?