Bigfork Middle School students and parents will have to get used to seeing different letters of the alphabet on report cards after school trustees approved piloting a standards-based grading system Wednesday.

Standards-based grading will be applied this year to English and math and appear on third-trimester report cards.

The elementary district recommendation to pilot standards-based grading was approved 3-1 with chairwoman Maureen Averill dissenting.

Implementing standards-based grading has been a point of contention for several parents who voiced their concerns during the meeting.

Discussion and research about standards-based grading at the middle school began a year ago. The initiative was teacher-driven, Bigfork Middle School Principal Matt Jensen said.

“It started with a simple question: What do we do with our grades? Are they a good reflection of what students know and could we do a better job,” Jensen said.

Bigfork Elementary School currently uses standards-based grading. Kalispell Middle School started using a form of standards-based grading about four years ago and Somers Middle School uses a blend of standards-based and traditional grading.

Under the grading system, Bigfork Middle School students will be graded as “advanced proficient” or above grade level, “proficient” (at grade level), “nearing proficient” (below grade level), “dependent” (requiring intervention) or “no evidence.”

After the board meeting, Jensen showed a sample of a report card for math. Each skill was given a number from one to four and then given an overall number such as 3.1 (on a 4.0 scale). This scenario translated to “proficient.” This system, however, is not interchangeable with letter grades or averages seen at the high school level.

“The biggest difference with standards-based grading is one, you’re not averaging and two, you’re separating the behaviors from the academics,” Jensen said.

Behavior and attendance will be assessed separately and not combined in grading academics.

Unlike the current traditional letter-grade system of A through F, standards-based grading breaks out students’ mastery of skills and concepts such as fluency and expression in English or equations and functions in math. 

By analyzing different content skills, teachers may be able to see learning patterns emerge with individuals or an entire class and modify curriculum.

Averill and parent Jim Abney agreed that this wealth of information is a great for pinpointing what concepts or skills a student succeeds in or struggles with, but wanted them to be attached to either a traditional grade letter or percentage. 

Averill said she would favor the policy if there were such a compromise. According to Averill, the standards-based grading system was not preparing students for high school or college and referred to it as “coddling.” 

“We’re not talking about primary-aged children. We are talking about kids going on to high school, going on to college. Part of the education process is preparing our students for each grade level they’re going to,” Averill said. “To me this is continuing to coddle children as they go into middle school and that needs to lessen.” 

“I’m not wholly in support of this and I’m not wholly opposed to this,” Averill added.

Jensen said connecting a letter grade or percentage is not compatible with standards-based grading.

“Grades are based on a 100-point scale. Proficiencies are based on knowledge and ability to complete a standard,” Jensen said.

Concerned parent Byron Whitney handed out his son’s third-grade report card to the audience. 

“Look at it as if you are evaluating a student. Where is this student in school? How is he performing?” Whitney said. “How many people think he’s an average student? How many people think he’s below average? How many think he’s above average?”

To Whitney, standards-based grading is nebulous and doesn’t clarify where a students stands academically.  Whitney said he also believes standards-based grading is subjective.

“On math tests where he gets 100 percent and he gets a ‘P,’ you can’t get excited about that,” Whitney said. “It seems to me you’re really sacrificing the best students on the altar of equality.”

A proponent of standards-based grading, Bigfork substitute teacher Breanna Jensen said this system provides more opportunities and areas to motivate students. Traditional letter grades could be just as unclear.

“As a parent I didn’t quite know where my kids were. When I got a letter grade I didn’t know where their strengths were exactly, where their weaknesses were or what I could do as a parent at home to encourage them to grow,” Breanna Jensen said.

Looking at the report card, another parent in the audience said her child scored below Whitney’s in reading and still came home with similar marks. 

Ginny Reed, a grandparent of Bigfork students, also opposed the new grading system.

“Letter grades have been around forever. Everyone understands letter grades. History past, present and future would understand the letter grades and all they stand for and all that they encourage in being good students,” Reed said.

Before taking a vote, trustee Paul Sandry said he was in favor of the new grading policy in hopes that it would temper grade inflation.

“When I was going to school, grade inflation was rampant, no question about it,” Sandry said.

Jensen later said that too many students are not held accountable for mastering concepts.

“We have far too many kids in our country taking remedial college courses. The reason they are is that they are not held accountable for standards. If they are, they’re held accountable for grades and a grade can happen from a combination of things — they can be good at ‘playing school,’ but not have a lot of knowledge. College exams are based on standards,” Jensen said. “There are so many different ways to an ‘A’ it can be misleading to parents.”

Jensen said he doesn’t believe a grade or a report card should be the sole tools in motivating students to excel both academically and behavior-wise.

“I don’t think a report card or an ‘A’ or a ‘B’ or standards-based grading is motivation for young adults. The motivation is being held accountable to excel,” Jensen said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.