St. Lucie County is continuing and refining its practice of the past 15 years of standards-based grading in grades Kindergarten through Grade 2. The sections below will provide you additional information and resources on the system used to indicate your child’s progress toward meeting the grade level expectations.

Grading Scale

What is the grading scale for grades Kindergarten through Grade 2?

The following grading scale will be used in grades K-2:

4
Above Standard
3
At Standard
2
Approaching Standard
1
Below Standard
0
Not Attempted

The 5-point performance scale is not directly correlated as A=4, B=3, etc.  The focus of the grading scale is to indicate your child’s progress and mastery toward the expected standards for the grade level.  An assignment may have a high percentage of the items correct with the intent of checking for mastery of the standard.  Do not assume that a high percentage of items correct on an assignment equates to above standard work.

What does a “4 – Above Standard” look like?

A four on the grading scale would indicate that your child was able to demonstrate performance that exceeded the expectations of the standard.

In English Language Arts, the standards spiral at each grade level to add additional complexity.  If your child is demonstrating proficiency on the grade-level standard, instruction and assessment for that standard can easily be differentiated by moving up to the next grade-level iteration of the standard.

In Mathematics, the standards are not structured in the same manner.  While the mathematics standards do have a progression in place, the same standards are not spiraled year after year.  Florida Standards Mathematics challenges children to demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving by going deeper in the grade level standards through the application of the eight mathematical practices.

Since a four on the scale is dependent on the standard itself, a few examples are given below.  As a caution, the examples provided are only samples through which a child may demonstrate proficiency above the expected level.

Examples:

 
Grade
Standard
A Possible “Four”
K
Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.
Your child can describe the attributes of a shape without using its name to the point where others can name the shape.
1
Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones.
Your child can represent numbers up to 120 in various ways using different combinations of tens and ones.
2
Identify relationships between the digits and their place values through the thousands, including counting by tens and hundreds.
When given a number such as 4,725, the child is able to independently articulate verbally or in writing how the value of the number changes if we substituted a six in place of the seven.

Standards-Based Instruction

What is standards-based instruction?

As teachers in grades Kindergarten through Grade 2 implement the Florida Standards, they will be using standards-based instruction through the use of learning goals and scales.  The scales provide a clear and objective model of the expected performance of a student on a set of standards.

The scales have been integrated into the St. Lucie County Scope and Sequence.   The scales for Math can be found by clicking on the learning goals on the scope and sequence.  The ELA scales are displayed in the table for the units.

In order to provide appropriate instruction, teachers use a variety of instructional groupings including whole group, small group, and individual instruction.  Within his/her class, teachers use both the reading and math routines to provide daily targeted instruction to groups of students with similar learning needs to address skill deficits and enrich students ready to move forward.

Standards-Based Grading

What is Standards-Based Grading?

Teachers will be grading students on their progress toward the mastery of the Standards throughout the year.  As teachers enter events into Skyward, you will be able to see if your child is progressing steadily along the way through the grades assigned in the events.

Instruction will be paced to ensure that your child will master all of the grade level content prior to the year.  A three would indicate that your child is making steady progress based on the instruction and assessments provides thus far.

You may see some individual scores fluctuate from time to time which is not necessarily cause for concern.  As your child learns new skills, he/she will find some concepts and targets much easier to master than others.  As a parent, you should be looking at the overall trend of grades to see the overall pattern.

How do you calculate an overall grade using standards-based grading?

The gradebook calculates the trend of student grades.  This type of grading takes into account that your child may learn at a different pace when compared to another child.  The expectation is that the teacher and student continue to revisit and work on standards not yet mastered.  Trend-based grading weights most heavily the most recent score on a standard; however, it still takes into account the previous scores to determine an accurate trend.

How can I view my child’s progress in Skyward’s Family Access?

This document, Viewing Your Child’s Grade in Family Access, will guide you through the process of reviewing event scores prior to the close of the quarter.

What will the report card look like?

The report card will contain a summary of your child’s progress four times throughout the school year.  The following information will be displayed as part of the summary:

  • Academic grades for Language Arts, Math, Physical Education, and Music
  • Performance scores on academic behaviors such as completing work, working in groups, etc.
  • Attendance
  • Specific teacher comments 

Blank copies of the report cards for each grade level can be found below: