SBG-System: Standards-Based Grading
The time for change... is NOW!
In 2008, a former government teacher (Mr. Lane Halterman) and I overhauled the entire way in which we assess students. It wasn't easy, especially because it was something so new and so radical that it scared many parents, administrative types, and those in guidance.
Change isn't easy.
From top-down education has to change. The archaic structure in place is held up by a crumbling foundation centered on decade and century-old practices spewed by "ivy-tower scholars" whose reforms are based on theory rather than practice.
Many of these so-called "reformers" have never set foot in a public classroom.
The Education Revolution has torn down the old way of learning and rebuilt it around its most important piece: the student.
Being the ones instituting change in an outdated system like education means you've got a hard road ahead. However, seeing our new approach to grading being used by many of our peers and those around the country means we must be on to something!
Originally, Mr. Halterman and I used Ohio's Grade Level Indicators (or GLIs) to drive our new classroom. GLIs contained the knowledge and skills that all students should know and be able to do at each grade level. They served as checkpoints to monitor progress toward the state's benchmarks and standards. As a result, our grading policies were dubbed the GLI-System.
An overhaul of the curriculum for Social Studies in 2010 did away with GLIs and streamlined the state's benchmarks and standards. As a result, our GLI-System has been renamed the SBG-System (for Standards-Based Grading).
Change isn't easy.
From top-down education has to change. The archaic structure in place is held up by a crumbling foundation centered on decade and century-old practices spewed by "ivy-tower scholars" whose reforms are based on theory rather than practice.
Many of these so-called "reformers" have never set foot in a public classroom.
The Education Revolution has torn down the old way of learning and rebuilt it around its most important piece: the student.
Being the ones instituting change in an outdated system like education means you've got a hard road ahead. However, seeing our new approach to grading being used by many of our peers and those around the country means we must be on to something!
Originally, Mr. Halterman and I used Ohio's Grade Level Indicators (or GLIs) to drive our new classroom. GLIs contained the knowledge and skills that all students should know and be able to do at each grade level. They served as checkpoints to monitor progress toward the state's benchmarks and standards. As a result, our grading policies were dubbed the GLI-System.
An overhaul of the curriculum for Social Studies in 2010 did away with GLIs and streamlined the state's benchmarks and standards. As a result, our GLI-System has been renamed the SBG-System (for Standards-Based Grading).
We're JUST getting warmed up!
For more information, and to start answering all of the questions you have, click here.
