What I’ve Learned from Five Years of Standards-Based Grading
Date:
This is the talk I gave at RUMEY 2026, held at Rutgers University - New Brunswick. As I was transition from a job at Rutgers to my next position, I gave this talk about the five years I had used Standards Based Grading in my Differential Equations classes. It reflects on what I had learned in working with classes of this size, dealing with student’s preconceived notions of grading, and how it impacted the way I approached the class. I also presented several small ways to get into this kind of grading for those interested.
Abstract
Standards-Based Grading is an alternative form of grading where a student’s final grade is directly tied to their performance on a set of learning outcomes. While systems can vary a lot, the general commonalities are that students either show understanding of a learning objective or don’t (the dreaded no partial credit) and students are allowed to reattempt learning objectives later in the course to replace their earlier scores. I have been using a system like this in my differential equations classes for the last five years, and this presentation will share my experiences with this system and what I have learned and changed over the years. In this session, attendees will learn about alternative grading schemes, including standards-based grading, discover some of the pitfalls and benefits of using such a system, and understand some small changes that can be implemented to approach one of these schemes without reworking an entire course.