Changing the Grade: A Step-by-Step Guide to Grading for Student Growth

Many educators agree that the 100-point grading model is not always a reliable way to evaluate student learning. But is there another way to more accurately and equitably grade students and provide high-quality information to parents while fostering student learning? If so, why haven't school districts across the country changed their practices?

In Changing the Grade, author and educator Jonathan Cornue presents a detailed model for developing a more reliable, standards-based grading system—including 30 steps to guide you through the process. In addition to identifying and addressing the barriers to change—such as concerns about how colleges and employers will interpret an alternative grading model—Cornue offers a concrete structure for changing the grading system, providing guidance on:

• Thinking in a new way about why grades are given and the purpose of a report card grade;
• Identifying what needs to be changed and what actions must be taken to facilitate the change;
• Building a team of stakeholders—including teachers, principals, and guidance counselors—to lead the change process;
• Developing the new standards-based grading structure;
• Designing standards-based assignments and assessments that align with a new grading structure
• Avoiding grade inflation; and
• Getting buy-in from teachers and other staff members, principals, administrators, the board of education, and the community by demonstrating that the change process is intentional, research-based, student-focused, and permanent.

The book also includes helpful samples of standards-based gradebooks, homework assignments, rubrics, and report cards.

If you are interested in making a systemic and systematic shift to a high-quality grading structure that is far less subjective than many commonly found in schools, consider Changing the Grade.

Jonathan Cornue, a former high school English teacher and integration specialist for a technical high school, is a staff and curriculum development specialist for the Madison-Oneida Board of Cooperative Educational Services (MO BOCES). He creates and presents workshops on many topics, including brain-based learning and rubric development. Jonathan coaches incoming teachers and their mentors, facilitates test development, assists in planning changes to curricula in all grades and subject areas, writes and oversees grants, trains presenters, helps administrators refine teacher support systems, and interprets state regulations for area districts. He has served on the board of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum and as a member of the New York State Amistad Commission and the New York Statewide Professional Development Group. He has worked with school districts throughout New York state and presented his thoughts on grading changes at the 2015 ASCD annual conference in Houston. Jonathan, a graduate of Elmira College, earned a master's degree in education from the State University of New York at Cortland.