K-12 Teachers’ Implementation of Standards-Based Grading in the Classroom: A Quantitative Study

Standards-based grading (SBG) is a grading system in which each student is given a set of grades, each reflecting their proficiency in relation to a specific skill. The present study examined K-12 teachers’ implementation of SBG practices in a small, suburban Illinois district, as well as their perceptions and confidence in implementing SBG. It also examined these teachers’ prior formal and informal opportunities to learn about SBG, and how both pre-service and in-service opportunities to learn relate to their implementation of SBG grading. Results provide evidence of mixed levels of teacher SBG implementation, mixed teacher perceptions of SBG, and mixed teacher confidence in implementing such practices. In addition, the study finds that teachers’ opportunities to learn about SBG practices were extremely limited. However, both pre-service and in-service opportunities to learn about SBG related to SBG implementation and these relationships were mediated by teachers’ confidence in implementing SBG.