Making the grade: one school's experience implementing proficiency-based grading.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20350261

Adopting a new assessment system is a layered process that involves changes to both grading philosophy and educator practice. This study examined teacher and administrator perception of the adoption of proficiency-based grading. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to understand how teachers and administrators in one Northeast US middle school experienced the change from traditional grading to a system of proficiency-based grading. The central research question driving this study was: how did Highland Middle School staff experience the implementation of proficiency-based grading so that others can learn from their change initiative? Data was collected and analyzed from semi-structured interviews, document review and observation of a professional development meeting. Seven participants, made up of two administrators and five teachers, were interviewed for this study. Two cycles of coding and a detailed analysis of the data resulted in four emergent themes: communication, rigidity, clear vision and the meaning of grades. This study has implications for school leaders planning to adopt or currently implementing proficiency-based grading. The key findings of this study yielded two conclusions: Teachers need to be considered and involved in the planning and implementing of proficiency-based grading and the vision behind changing grading systems is made more complicated by community perception of grades.--Author's abstract