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I really like this read. I teach at a high school that is "doing" standards based grading, but follow you to help with ideas to improve my approach to it. While I don't have to write my own standards I do have to prioritize them and break them down into what we call "Success Criteria" and we are also required to offer 1 reassessment for each assessment we give. We can give more if we choose. I see so many of my colleagues still pushing back against SBG for the more traditional system or trying to make SBG fit to a traditional system. I have shared a few of your articles with some of the new teachers to give them a better idea of how the alternative approach can benefit students in the learning process. This is my favorite summary of SBG and alternative grading that I've read. It's not a total how to but it gives an idea of what to do and how to do it. A lot of teachers I deal with are looking for a method that is easy to implement and requires little extra effort on their part.

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Thanks, Adam. I will be the first to admit that I don't know anything about SBG in a high school setting. One of the biggest strengths of alternative grading in higher ed is that it's essentially 100% voluntary, so entirely completed with full buy-in.

What kinds of articles might help convince your more resistant colleagues?

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I usually try to find articles that explain the concept and reasoning behind the SBG. Things that help the teachers understand the desire it to show student growth in mastery of the standards. A lot of teachers that have had little exposure to SBG and other alternative grading systems just can't get away from the percentage based systems it is a comfort zone for them. They understand how it works and how the numbers relate to grades.

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Cool, thanks. I've been thinking of running a series of short "What is... <term from alt-grading>?" posts. Sounds like this is the kind of thing that would help!

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