The Northern Cass school district in North Dakota last spring graduated its first class of seniors who went through most of high school without receiving letter grades.
Instead, their report cards listed the specific skills their teachers expected them to learn in each class and how much progress they made on each one.
In other words, rather than receiving a single letter grade for each class, students received one mark for each skill. A separate section rated students鈥� 鈥渉abits of work鈥濃�攖he nonacademic items that often are factored into letter grades, such as classroom behavior, on-time homework submission, and effort.
Today, on Northern Cass鈥� report cards, a 1 or 2 shows a student has more work to do before mastering a skill while a 3 means they鈥檙e proficient. A 4 shows they鈥檝e gone beyond proficiency.
The goal is to provide students鈥攁nd parents鈥攚ith detailed information on their academic performance, along with actionable feedback, said Cory Steiner, the superintendent of the 700-student, one-building district located northwest of Fargo. That鈥檚 not something traditional letter grades could deliver, he said.
鈥淯ltimately, what I tell people is, a grade or a report of a score should tell us what they do know, what they don鈥檛 know, and then be able to give us a plan to help fill in those gaps,鈥� Steiner said. The district鈥檚 shift to what鈥檚 often called proficiency-based grading鈥攂ut is also referred to as standards- and mastery-based grading鈥斺�減ut the emphasis on learning and not obtaining something that is ambiguous at best.鈥�
Grading has come under the microscope in recent years amid concerns about growing grade inflation and a widening and their scores on standardized exams like the ACT and SAT. Some have also raised concerns that traditional letter and percentage grades reflect educator biases and circumstances beyond students鈥� control, such as whether they have reliable internet access to complete assignments. And only a small portion of educators in an EdWeek Research Center survey last year鈥�13 percent鈥�thought letter and percentage grades were a 鈥渧ery effective way鈥� of providing feedback to students.
Yet, such grades remain entrenched. Abandoning letter grades is fraught with challenges. And even when a district drops them, it still must negotiate elements of the grading regime that has been dominant in U.S. schools for over a century.
鈥淥ne thing everybody has in common is they all had a letter grade at some point,鈥� Steiner said.
How does a school system switch to proficiency-based grades?
The switch to proficiency-based grades in Northern Cass came only after the district had already begun to shift to personalized, competency-based instruction, designing classes around students mastering specific skills, incorporating more outside-the-classroom learning and student-directed projects, and offering flexibility and customization.
Steiner is frank about the challenges the district faced and early missteps. For example, he said, the district deployed the new grading system without first consulting with colleges.
鈥淥f course, you can imagine, parents were not happy,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey thought, 鈥楳y kid won鈥檛 get into college. You鈥檙e ruining my kid鈥檚 life.鈥欌��
Competency-based education, proficiency-based learning, mastery-based learning, personalized learning, student-centered education, and standards-based education are all terms that refer to the same instructional model: one in which students make choices about how they learn and demonstrate their knowledge, learn at a pace that might differ from their classmates鈥�, receive individualized support based on their needs, and progress based on their mastery of course material instead of seat time.
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So Steiner and the district鈥檚 director of personalized learning went on a 鈥渞oadshow,鈥� visiting the colleges and universities throughout North Dakota and western Minnesota that Northern Cass students most commonly attend to explain the grading system.
The message? Universities were fine with it. But they still wanted students to come out of high school with a grade point average, mainly because that was the basis for awarding some scholarships. They didn鈥檛 want Northern Cass students to potentially miss out, Steiner said.
Today, Northern Cass鈥� transcripts list students鈥� final grades for each class on the 1-4 scale, with 3 as the most common grade because of the competency-based model鈥檚 emphasis on all students reaching proficiency. The district uses those marks to calculate the GPA.
鈥淚 always say, we鈥檙e an insurance company鈥檚 worst nightmare because every kid will have a minimum of a 3.0 because we get every kid to proficiency,鈥� Steiner said. 鈥淪o everybody gets the good driver discount.鈥�
Some students end up with a handful of A鈥檚 and B鈥檚 on their transcripts. That鈥檚 because the district converts proficiency-based scores to letter grades for courses students take for college credit through a partnership with Valley City State University, one of North Dakota鈥檚 public universities.
The grading shift was 鈥渞eally hard,鈥� Steiner said, but he likes the result.
Students haven鈥檛 been universally happy, but he notices less anxiety because they don鈥檛 depend on a make-or-break test or paper that determines the bulk of their grade. Plus, at any point before graduation, Steiner said, a student who wants a higher grade can return to any subject and do additional work.
What he sees is more learning, including among students who otherwise would have been resigned to merely passing classes with C鈥檚 and D鈥檚鈥攎arks that don鈥檛 signal proficiency.
鈥淭hey actually feel success because they grow and there鈥檚 not an endpoint like there used to be,鈥� Steiner said.
What are grades supposed to do?
Colleges and some employers have traditionally looked to students鈥� letter grades and GPAs to assess whether they鈥檙e prepared for the next step after high school.
But researchers have repeatedly found them to be inconsistent and unreliable measures of students鈥� academic performance, according to Thomas Guskey, a professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky鈥檚 college of education who specializes in assessment and grading.
That鈥檚 because the typical course grade is what researchers have come to call the 鈥渉odgepodge鈥� grade, he said. It blends students鈥� performance on tests and papers and a range of other factors鈥攚hether they completed homework, showed up on time, participated in discussions, behaved well, and turned in extra credit assignments鈥攊nto a single number or letter. The exact method varies from teacher to teacher.
鈥淚t鈥檚 impossible to interpret. The highly responsible low achiever gets the same grade as the irresponsible high achiever,鈥� said Guskey, who that the 0-100 numeric scale merely provides 鈥渢he illusion of precision鈥� and increases the potential for subjectivity.
Standards-based grading takes the opposite approach, with teachers awarding separate grades for individual skills as well as for factors that don鈥檛 directly reflect students鈥� achievement, such as effort and on-time homework submission. There are only three to five potential marks鈥攖he 1-4 scale is especially common鈥攔ather than 100, according to Guskey.
One thing everybody has in common is they all had a letter grade at some point.
Even though it鈥檚 separate from the achievement grade, homework should still count, Guskey said.
鈥淭alk to a 14-year-old, because as soon as you say homework doesn鈥檛 count, they鈥檙e not going to do homework anymore,鈥� he said.
The goal is clarity about a student鈥檚 progress, he said. And while awarding multiple grades for a single class might appear to take more work, Guskey counters that teachers using standards-based grading don鈥檛 have to combine such a wide variety of elements at different statistical weights into a single grade.
Grading shouldn鈥檛 be the first thing districts change when switching to competency-based education, , and no one should expect a grading system on its own to improve student achievement. The instruction needs to be aligned with the grading system, so it doesn鈥檛 merely become a replacement for A-F or percentage marks, he writes.
As with traditional grades, some studies have found that standards-based grades are only moderately predictive of students鈥� scores on standardized exams. But teachers who implemented the system more faithfully produced grades that hewed more closely to the high-stakes exam scores, .
More recently, found that high-performing geometry students were less likely to complete practice work after the switch to a standards-based system that didn鈥檛 factor homework completion into final course performance grades. The students鈥� overall performance also suffered, the study found.
But in , teachers reported that standards-based instruction and grading helped them better understand their students鈥� needs so they could customize instruction, that classmates were less inclined to competitively compare grades, and that students became more comfortable making mistakes.
Some reported that they had to convert standards-based grades back to letter grades and percentages in their schools, however, leading parents and students to complain that the conversion resulted in lower grades.
Seventy-two percent of educators in a recent, nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey said they at least partly supported replacing traditional grades with reports of students鈥� progress toward specific objectives. (The survey, conducted May 29 to June 19, included responses from 868 educators.)
Traditional grades were built upon outdated beliefs that few educators hold today, said Joe Feldman, a former teacher and principal whose book, Grading for Equity, has been used by districts around the country to revamp grading practices.
Those include that students have a fixed ability level beyond which they can鈥檛 grow; that they should be sorted according to perceived ability; and that extrinsic motivation, such as extra points for good behavior, is the most effective way to motivate students, he said.
Standards-based grading addresses some of those problems, Feldman said.
But he still disagrees with awarding marks for behavior and homework completion, even if they鈥檙e separate, because of their potential to introduce bias and rate students for factors beyond their control. If standards-based districts retain such ratings, he recommends that they carefully define what it takes to earn a 1, 2, 3, or 4鈥攁s they do for academic skills鈥攖o remove as much potential for bias as possible, he said.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 most important is that it be reported distinct from academic performance,鈥� Feldman said.
What happens when students apply for college with proficiency-based grades?
Despite the goal of clarity, a common worry persists among students and parents about standards-based grades: that the measures will put students at a disadvantage in college admissions. Colleges and universities, however, have refuted that idea.
For example, as the push for proficiency-based education picked up in New England over the past decade-plus, 85 public and private colleges in the region鈥攊ncluding some of the most selective, like Harvard University鈥� affirming that applicants with proficiency-based transcripts wouldn鈥檛 be at a disadvantage.
In addition, since 2020, nearly 500 colleges and universities have accepted students supplying the transcript, a digital academic record designed specifically for competency-based education. It doesn鈥檛 list course grades. Rather, it lays out the broad skills schools want their students to gain鈥攕uch as the abilities to work in a team, communicate effectively, think critically, and problem-solve鈥攁nd students supply evidence demonstrating their capacities, such as in-class and community service projects they鈥檝e completed and internships.
鈥淭he responsibility is on us as an admissions office to use whatever grades that the [high] school provides for us,鈥� said Edward Pickett III, the senior associate dean of admissions and director of recruitment at Pomona College in California and a board director with the National Association for College Admission Counseling. 鈥淚 also think that it is a responsible choice on the school鈥檚 part to be able to explain, if they don鈥檛 have a typical grading scale, what the grades mean.鈥�
Some schools convert proficiency-based grades to letter grades
In Casie Maekawa鈥檚 8th grade math class at Juab Junior High School in Utah, the tests that students take are organized into sets of questions marked levels 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Their final score isn鈥檛 based on the percentage of questions they answer correctly. Instead, if they can answer all the Level 2 questions about writing and graphing linear equations but not the Level 3 questions, they still haven鈥檛 reached proficiency and need more time and instruction, Maekawa said.
In English/language arts, rubrics that teachers have developed together outline what it looks like for a student to earn a 1, 2, 3, or 4 for a specific skill, such as analyzing a character, said Angie Hall, an instructional coach in the Juab district who previously taught 7th and 8th grade English/language arts there.
As a result, teachers鈥� grade books don鈥檛 list specific assignments and students鈥� scores. Instead, they list specific skills, which are based on Utah鈥檚 state standards, and whether students have reached proficiency in each.
Where grading gets complicated in the 2,700-student district south of Provo is that . Maintaining letter grades has been the preference of community and school board members, even as teachers have worked for years on converting to competency-based instruction, said Royd Darrington, the Juab district鈥檚 assistant superintendent.
鈥淭hat always will create some ambiguity,鈥� Darrington said.
With students receiving traditional letter grades, some parents naturally want to find out how their child can raise a B-plus to an A-minus, said Natalie Darrington, an instructional coach in the district who previously taught 7th and 8th grade math.
Some ask whether their child can complete extra credit or if they can send in additional school supplies to boost a grade. But those options aren鈥檛 available in a grading system that strictly reflects students鈥� understanding of the material.
鈥淚t would just be so much easier if I could just give them a worksheet and then I could give them the grade. And then their parents would be happy, and I would be happy, and the student would be happy,鈥� Natalie Darrington said. 鈥淏ut it doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that this student learned anything.鈥�
