What is Mastery Grading?Mastery Grading is the practice of using feedback to provide students and parents with information about student performance, encouraging continuous improvement. Rather than receiving a number or letter grade on each assignment--which tends to stop the process of growth and mastery--students use the feedback that they are given to revise their work or prepare for the next assessment. Students gather examples of their work in a digital portfolio, and use that evidence to determine their grade at the end of each quarter.
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Frequently Asked QuestionsQ: Will my student earn grades at all?
A: Yes, at the end of the quarter each student will earn a letter grade that matches their learning from the quarter. Students will work with the teacher to use evidence from the quarter to determine this grade. Q: How will I know how well my student is doing during the quarter? A: Using PowerSchool, you will be able to monitor their work, seeing what is missing and what was turned in late. Students will receive feedback on each assignment to help them gauge their performance and encourage second attempts that show more mastery. Each assignment will also be marked with Exceeds Expectations, Meets Expectations, or Does Not Meet Expectations to help you and your child understand the quality of their submitted work. Q: What is the goal of the change to a mastery-based classroom? A: We want students to develop an attitude of continuous improvement. Students will spend time reflecting on–and in some cases improving–their work toward mastery of the concepts. We only provide feedback on these assignments so that students have an idea of how to move forward, but are not stifled by the finality of a grade. Q: How will my child’s final quarter grade be determined? A: First, the student will complete a reflection rubric document (see below) in which they assign themselves a grade and identify the work that supports that assessment. Then, they have a brief conference with the teacher to discuss their grade choice. The teacher will provide feedback and help the student to arrive at the most appropriate grade. Then, the grade rubric document is sent home for parents to discuss with the child and sign off on. Q: Students are encouraged to "retake" work? What does this mean? A: For most work in each class, after students receive their work back with feedback on it, they have the opportunity to either resubmit it (mostly appropriate for writing work) or study for a retake. By school policy, the retake must be different in some way than the original assessment. This might mean different questions or it might mean a different format (such as open-ended questions instead of multiple-choice). The retake score replaces the original score and students have one week to do a retake/resubmission. *Note: Many writing assignments in ELA represent several days of work and revised drafts already, so no retakes are provided. Mrs. Miron will always let students know if there is no retake for that assignment, and will post the information in PowerSchool. Q: What do the levels of mastery mean? A: During each unit, your child will be working toward mastering the content. At the end of the quarter, your child will be asked to identify what level of mastery they have reached for each unit, along a continuum. They will need to consider how well they understand the ideas, whether they can teach them to another person, and whether they can apply them to new situations. Each level of mastery will be converted into a letter grade at the end of the quarter. |
GlossaryAssignment MarkingsDoes Not Meet Expectations (-, Level 1): Assignment did not show the minimal level of understanding for 8th grade
Meets Expectations (✓, Level 2): Assignment is at the minimum level expected of 8th graders. Exceeds Expectations (✓+, Level 3): Assignment showed mastery beyond the level of 8th grade. End of Quarter MarkingsDeveloping Proficiency: Student's work shows below 8th grade level mastery, including most or all Does Not Meet Expectations. At the end of the quarter, this level of mastery is converted into a 69%-D.
At Proficiency: Student provides examples of work that show minimum 8th grade level mastery, including most or all Meets Expectations. At the end of the quarter, this level of mastery is converted into a 79%-C. Beyond Proficiency: Student's work samples show mastery above the minimum expected of 8th graders, including many Exceeds Expectations. At the end of the quarter, this level of mastery is converted into a 89%-B. Mastery: Student shows through their work samples that they are well above the minimum understanding of 8th grade with the ability to explain concepts more deeply. This student's work will be almost exclusively Exceeds Expectations. At the end of the quarter, this level of mastery will be converted into a 100%-A. |