Does Standards Based Grading help or hurt the students of VHHS? Math teacher Mr. Jim Pardun has been using Standards Based Grading for many years because he believes that this is the most effective way to teach students. A Standards Based Grading course is broken into learning targets, (LT’s) and students earn mastery in each one. In a true standards based course, students are graded from a 1 to a 4. These numbers have no point value, as they are just symbols to represent the mastery of the skill that the student has, from no knowledge to mastery. Pardun grades his students from 5 (shows no knowledge) to 10 (complete mastery).

Most people who don’t agree with Standards Based Grading usually say that the grading is too subjective.

According to Pardun, “Grading is always subjective, no matter what the class is.”

People might be skeptical as to how he is able to differ between a 7 and an 8. According to Pardun,  a 7 represents some knowledge, and an 8 represents a firm grasp.

“Keep in mind, this is based on a variety of problems, not just one,” said Pardun.

An important factor of Standards Based Grading for Pardun is that a student will never be given a zero on a 100 point scale.

“A zero is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover from,” said Pardun.

Pardun does not believe in zeros. He thinks that giving a student a zero is telling them that they know nothing at all. A 5 on a Standards Based Grading scale is still a 50% which is an F. He does this because a 5 is much easier to recover from than a 0.

“The benefit of this is that students get the message that learning never stops. I want all of my students to continue to learn and prove that they know the material.”

One of the great things about Pardun’s class is that you can always redeem yourself. You can reassess on any LT that you want to and prove that you know the material, even if it is much later than the other students.

“No grade is haunting anyone. This takes the stress out of math and lets learning be learning.”

He is extremely grateful to be able to teach in a district where administration allows teachers to try new grading and are not forced to grade one way or another.

Breena Shusterman (11), a student in Pardun’s precalculus class, gave her insight on what she likes and doesn’t like about standards based grading.

“One thing that I really love about Standards Based Grading is the fact that you always have a chance to redeem yourself. I always feel like I have an opportunity to improve my grade,”said Shusterman.

While there are lots of great things about Standards Based Grading, there are some things that make it difficult to adjust.

“The most difficult thing about Standards Based Grading is that it is extremely easy to move from an 8 to a 7. It is frustrating that there is nothing between a C and a B,” said Shusterman.

It is great that the school allows teachers to explore different grading methods and find what works for them. Students appreciate the hard work of Pardun and how he truly wants to see all of his students succeed in his class.