Standards-Based Learning: Distinguishing Learning Objectives from Learning Behaviors

YISS faculty are increasingly bringing their grading and reporting practices into alignment with the principles of standards-based learning. An important aspect of this change is making a more clear distinction between what a student has actually learned and other behaviors that impact the learning process, then communicating student achievement in a way that appropriately reflects those distinctions.

A student’s level of organization, extent of engagement in the classroom, and their social interactions weigh heavily into the overall educational experience, but do not necessarily correlate with a student’s actual learning. For example, a student could forget to submit their homework frequently but actually be very knowledgeable about a topic or capable in a particular skill. Historically, it was common practice for a teacher to simply deduct points from an overall course grade for the late or missing homework. Such a student would perhaps earn a ‘B’ for the course because they didn’t turn in homework, even though their test scores suggest that they have mastered the specific content and skills of the course. In this scenario, a teacher’s gradebook might look something like this:

For those who have experienced this type of grading, it looks normal and reasonable; the student did not submit homework, so they lost points. However, what does this final grade, a ‘B’, really suggest about the students’ learning?  In reviewing the test scores, Student A earned slightly more than 96% of the possible points on quizzes and tests – the two types of scores that are most reflective of the extent to which a student has learned the specific content and skills of the course.  In this case, the ‘B’ doesn’t adequately communicate the extent of learning that has taken place for Student A.

In contrast, consider the teacher’s gradebook for Student B:

The quiz and test scores recorded for Student B suggest he did not learn the material as well as Student A.  However, Student B received a higher grade for the course because he was much better with completing homework on time. This method of calculating grades for courses is common, and it can be a valid way of communicating an aggregate of any number of factors that a particular teacher wants to incorporate. In fact, once a teacher begins to incorporate things like extra credit, point deductions for late work, points for turning in field trip forms, participation grades, etc. the final grade given to a student may have very little correlation to the amount of actual learning that has taken place. 

That this traditional grading style often communicates less about actual learning than is often perceived – and what to do about it – has been a topic of discussion in education for several decades. It has gained more attention in recent years with the growing shift towards more student-centered approaches to education and the growth of competency-based education models.

Competency-based education models – or standards-based learning – are teaching and assessment practices that focus on students' mastery of specific, well-defined learning standards or objectives. In this approach, grades are based solely on how well students have met or exceeded the established standards, rather than on a composite of various factors such as behavior, attendance, or effort. Instead, learning behaviors are considered independently. Teachers track behaviors through a variety of methods, and then the learning behaviors are reported alongside grades for the mastery of content standards.  This method of reporting academic proficiency separately from learning behaviors gives a far more comprehensive view of a student's performance.

At YISS, the learning behaviors that are reported separately are referred to as Characteristics of Successful Learners (CoSLs), and have been defined as organization and responsibility, social interaction, and engagement. At the elementary school level and middle school level, the CoSLs have been included on report cards for several years. For the 2022-2023 school year, high school teachers began reporting CoSLs via Schoology, and there are plans to include the CoSLs as a component of reformatted report cards in the near future. The YISS Academic Office has developed a slideshow presentation to provide additional information about the school’s CoSLs.   

Developing a program that is standards-based is one of the many ways educators at YISS have shown their commitment to providing an exemplary education for students and is a component of YISS’s Continuous School Improvement Plan. For more about standards-based learning at YISS, please review the YISS SBL Overview and be on the lookout for future articles that will dive deeper into particular aspects of standards-based learning.