Last year, Manitowoc Lincoln High School adopted a new grading system.
The system, known as a Standards-Based system, had some people a bit concerned when a parent posted on Facebook the percentages for students to get an A grade they needed to achieve a 75%.
We spoke with Principal Lee Thennes, who explained the Standards-Based system in more detail.
He said that the system uses four levels to point to how well students are retaining the information they are taught.
Thennes explained, “For our level one, we are calling that beginning, level two is developing, level three is proficient, and level four is mastery.”
Thennes went on to explain that if a student were to be given a 2, they would then have a clear objective to reach in order to advance to a 3 or 4.
And that is what it all boils down to, clarity.
“As educators, we need to be really clear, we use the term ‘insanely clear’,” Thennes said. “We need to be insanely clear with kids on what our expectations are for their learning.”
Notice he said learning.
That is also the focus of this grading system, learning rather than teaching.
While Thennes said that grades are still important, it’s more about making sure the students actually learn the material rather than focusing on their grades.
“We are not in the point in our journey on this where we are saying grades aren’t important,” he told Seehafer News. “We are just saying learning is more important than grades, and communicating to our kids about where exactly they are on that learning, is really the most important thing.”
Thennes said that he has received positive feed back not only from the students, who he said are understanding more where they are in their educational journey, but also from the staff. He said that the teachers at Lincoln are all collaborating with each other to make sure everyone is using this system to it’s fullest. He also noted that colleges, such as Lakeshore Technical College, are either implementing this kind of system or are talk about adopting it.
