Evidence-Based Grading

Evidence-based grading, or Standards-based grading was a new grading system introduced in the 2024-25 school year aiming to take the focus off counting points and shift students' focus to learning, mastery, and growth in a subject.

Mechanics

Under this system, for each test taken, students are given a score of 4, 3, 2, 1, or No Mark in each of several skill areas. A score of 4 represents a skill level exceeding understanding, while 3 is showing understanding, 2 is approaching understanding, and 1 is developing understanding.

At the end of each semester, the test scores in each skill area are composited into a single score based upon a recency-biased mode. That is to say, the final score in a skill area is given by the score that appeared the most often, with a bias towards recent scores. Then, a letter grade is assigned based on the combination of skill area scores. Exact details differ between teachers, but generally scores of 3 and 4 are treated as more or less equivalent, and getting 3s and 4s in every category gets the student an A. In addition, having a minority of 2's generally gets a B, having a majority of 2's generally gets a C, and having multiple 1's generally gets a D.

Additionally, evidence-based grading systems tend to focus less on homework and also allow for test retakes as a logical method of determining students' academic mastery without being held to a rigid timetable and reduce student stress.

Benefits and Drawbacks

As stated earlier, the system is intended to better gauge students' learning and improvement over the semester. It also reduces the incidence of students desperately seeking points rather than learning itself. However, the fact that numerical scores which determine their final grade by a precise mathematical formula are assigned still leads to students seeking constantly to jump the barrier from one score to another. Also, the system is somewhat less concrete than the traditional points-based system, leading to a certain ambiguity over what scores a student deserves, though in theory this is offset by the holistic process used to determine final letter grades. It is certainly as of this time new to teachers, who are having some trouble adjusting. Anecdotally, it appears that EBG grading is leading to an overall grade deflation, with more people getting B's and C's and fewer people getting A's. However, this is expected to change over the course of the semester as people master the skills in the course and start doing retakes, if the system works as intended.

Classes using Evidence-Based Grading

According to an email sent to parents by the principal, only the following classes have fully implemented evidence-based grading:

• Chemistry and AP Chemistry ^{[what about Chemistry H?]}
• Conceptual Physics, Physics, AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C.
• AP English Literature
• Algebra 1
• AP Computer Science Principles

However, the following classes have also been implementing some parts of it:

• AP US History
• AP Calculus BC -- there are no test retakes and homework is calculated as a percentage of the grade
• American Classics H -- With Hernandez, Halter, and possibly others.