My husband asked me why I kept referring to this new grading system as "standards" based. It seems to imply that the traditional method of grading did not invoke any standards. Obviously the name was chosen to brand SBG in a good light. SBG is basically a relabeling of the failed"outcomes" based education theory which was unsuccessfully tried at various schools around the world. OBE has largely been dropped due to fact that it does not work. I believe the same outcome is in store for SBG. The question is how many children will be subjected to this progressive grading fad before it is dropped for the next latest and greatest trend?
The real irony in naming this type of system "standards" based is that it does not rely on any true set of standards. Under this type of system grading becomes much more subjective and a students progress is judged not based on their actual display of knowledge, but on the individual teacher's perception of their knowledge. I believe the chance of teacher bias goes way up when SBG is used. The fact that SBG is implemented in different ways every place it is used - even within a single school district - shows that it truly is without a set "standard."
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