Nothing can be more important in a student’s learning process than feedback. This study looks at what is needed to effectively guide an elementary school district from a traditional letter grade system to a standards-based grading system. Survey data were collected from 91 teachers across the district in order to measure their understanding of standards-based grading. A standards-based grading pilot was conducted with six teachers from the elementary and middle school level. Four of these six teachers participated in a group interview to share perceptions of this pilot. Survey data were collected from the 54 students involved in the pilot. Findings suggest the standard-based curriculum and assessments created prior to the study by teachers provided valuable background knowledge for the change to standards-based grading. Both teachers and students found that feedback based on standards was valuable to all stakeholders. However the use of letter grades is a tradition deeply ingrained in our society: promoting an effective change in student grading requires time, information, and communication to promote an effective transformation in grading practice.
","abstract_html":"<p>Nothing can be more important in a student’s learning process than feedback. This study looks at what is needed to effectively guide an elementary school district from a traditional letter grade system to a standards-based grading system. Survey data were collected from 91 teachers across the district in order to measure their understanding of standards-based grading. A standards-based grading pilot was conducted with six teachers from the elementary and middle school level. Four of these six teachers participated in a group interview to share perceptions of this pilot. Survey data were collected from the 54 students involved in the pilot. Findings suggest the standard-based curriculum and assessments created prior to the study by teachers provided valuable background knowledge for the change to standards-based grading. Both teachers and students found that feedback based on standards was valuable to all stakeholders. However the use of letter grades is a tradition deeply ingrained in our society: promoting an effective change in student grading requires time, information, and communication to promote an effective transformation in grading practice. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Finch, Perry A."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ed.D. Doctor of Education","degree_level":"Dissertation - Public Access","degree_discipline":"Educational Leadership","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Jack Denny","Dr. Norm Weston"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:20:32Z","subjects":["standards-based grading","motivation","feedback","learning","change","Educational Administration and Supervision","Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research","Educational Leadership","Educational Methods"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/222","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Jack Denny","Dr. Norm Weston"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Finch, Perry A."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-02-18T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Educational Leadership"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation - Public Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ed.D. Doctor of Education"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["standards-based grading","motivation","feedback","learning","change","Educational Administration and Supervision","Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research","Educational Leadership","Educational Methods"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/222"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Nothing can be more important in a student’s learning process than feedback. This study looks at what is needed to effectively guide an elementary school district from a traditional letter grade system to a standards-based grading system. Survey data were collected from 91 teachers across the district in order to measure their understanding of standards-based grading. A standards-based grading pilot was conducted with six teachers from the elementary and middle school level. Four of these six teachers participated in a group interview to share perceptions of this pilot. Survey data were collected from the 54 students involved in the pilot. Findings suggest the standard-based curriculum and assessments created prior to the study by teachers provided valuable background knowledge for the change to standards-based grading. Both teachers and students found that feedback based on standards was valuable to all stakeholders. However the use of letter grades is a tradition deeply ingrained in our society: promoting an effective change in student grading requires time, information, and communication to promote an effective transformation in grading practice.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A School District's Change To Standards-Based Grading: A Conduit To Student Learning"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Jack Denny","Dr. Norm Weston"],"dc:creator":["Finch, Perry A."],"dc:date.available":["2017-02-18T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Nothing can be more important in a student’s learning process than feedback. This study looks at what is needed to effectively guide an elementary school district from a traditional letter grade system to a standards-based grading system. Survey data were collected from 91 teachers across the district in order to measure their understanding of standards-based grading. A standards-based grading pilot was conducted with six teachers from the elementary and middle school level. Four of these six teachers participated in a group interview to share perceptions of this pilot. Survey data were collected from the 54 students involved in the pilot. Findings suggest the standard-based curriculum and assessments created prior to the study by teachers provided valuable background knowledge for the change to standards-based grading. Both teachers and students found that feedback based on standards was valuable to all stakeholders. However the use of letter grades is a tradition deeply ingrained in our society: promoting an effective change in student grading requires time, information, and communication to promote an effective transformation in grading practice.
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