Our Classroom Practice team at Marzano Research has a deep interest in personalized, competency-based learning and standards-based grading. From evaluating gamified learning to advising teachers on personalizing education to partnering with schools seeking to prioritize competency-based learning, the team understands the power of this approach.
Most recently, Marzano Research has been providing support, facilitation, and thought partnership to North SanPete School District in Utah as they shift to a competency based learning approach. This effort will include looking at proficiency scales and adapting their grading processes to align with their new formative assessment system.
“Our philosophy of doing this is developing a model that is unique for each system,” said Marzano Research’s David Yanoski. “When you’re thinking about developing your model and making the changes to this type of system, you really have to take into account contextual factors—the beliefs and values and desires of the community and staff—to develop a system that’s going to be effective.”
Yanoski said a recently published study discusses a model similar to the one under development in North SanPete.
“It’s about collecting multiple pieces of formative data over time, and then using those formative data to make an informed professional judgment about the current status of student knowledge,” Yanoski said.
The journal article Yanoski mentioned adds to the body of research literature that supports the use of competency-based learning and standards-based grading. I had the chance to interview Dr. Steven Kramer, lead author of “The Impacts of a Standards-Based Grading System Emphasizing Formative Assessment, Feedback, and Re-Assessment.”
Meet the researcher behind a promising new grading system
Kramer has dedicated his career to improving education. With teaching experience spanning elementary through high school and expertise in quantitative research and program evaluation, Kramer is always looking for ways to enhance student learning and engagement. His latest endeavor: evaluating the effectiveness of standards-based grading in high school math classes.
Kramer, who had taken a few years off from a research role at 21PSTEM to teach, became interested in standards-based grading when teaching middle school math.
“I actually implemented the standards-based grading in my classroom, and I thought it was very successful with my kids,” he said.
Encouraged by his experience, Kramer returned to his role at 21PSTEM and joined his colleagues who were investigating the impact of standards-based grading on high school math achievement.
The 21PSTEM team had already gathered the data when Kramer came on board. They dubbed the grading system they were testing “PARLO”—Proficiency-based Assessment and Re-assessment of Learning Outcomes.
The PARLO grading system
PARLO, as the name suggests, is a proficiency-based assessment system that focuses on students demonstrating mastery of clearly defined learning objectives. Rather than averaging performance on assignments and tests, students are rated as “not yet proficient,” “proficient,” or “high performance” on specific learning outcomes. Crucially, students have opportunities to revisit and improve their understanding and, after further study, take a re-assessment.
The research team had conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial with 29 schools, half implementing PARLO in 9th-grade algebra and geometry classes and half continuing with traditional grading.
Kramer conducted the final statistical analysis and was the lead author of the article.
“We analyzed the data using a hierarchical linear model, adjusting for demographics and prior achievement,” he said.
The results, published in January 2024, showed that standards-based grading improved student performance on end-of-course algebra and geometry tests by 0.33 standard deviations. According to the study summary, this would typically move a student scoring at the 50th percentile up to the 63rd percentile.
The motivation factor
Additionally, interviews with teachers revealed that more motivated students learned more effectively and achieved higher scores with PARLO, the study found. Quantitative data confirmed this interaction, with larger gains for students with higher motivation.
“Everybody benefited, but the more motivated kids benefited more,” Kramer said.
However, Kramer emphasized, motivation is not fixed: “It’s not something inherent in your students. It’s something that your classroom conditions, including something like the standards-based grading itself, can support.”
Consequently, supporting motivation is key to maximizing PARLO’s benefits.
“So to say, ‘Oh, my kids aren’t motivated and aren’t benefiting the best from this,’ the answer is, ‘Well, motivation is malleable,’” said Kramer. “You have to create the learning conditions to support the motivation.”
He plans to combine PARLO with interventions known to bolster motivation.
“If you reach out and work hard to support kids’ value, support kids’ growth mindset, support kids’ sense of belonging in math class, all of that is going to increase their motivation. And then you’ll be turbocharging the effects,” Kramer said.
What’s next for PARLO?
To enable more widespread adoption, Kramer also aims to develop integrated technology tools to make PARLO seamless for teachers to implement in alignment with states’ standards.
“We want to prepare a library of resources that are assessments and re-assessments, enrichment activities, teaching activities, links to videos, all those kinds of things that are hooked to the learning outcomes teachers are teaching … and tie that into the student information system the school’s already using. That way, the teacher can say, ‘Okay, you’re having trouble here. Here are several resources I can download or you can download and give you to work on with this,’” Kramer said.
As the study found, this approach holds great promise for advancing student learning and engagement. After a long journey bringing the initial research to fruition, he is excited to continue refining PARLO and supporting its use in schools. Kramer welcomes partnerships with districts interested in piloting this system. He also plans to conduct a follow-up study to further investigate the role that student motivation plays in its effectiveness.
The full article, “The Impacts of a Standards-Based Grading System Emphasizing Formative Assessment, Feedback, and Re-Assessment: A Mixed Methods, Cluster Randomized Control Trial in Ninth Grade Mathematics Classrooms,” can be accessed here.
About Dr. Kramer
A seasoned education researcher, Dr. Steven L. Kramer serves as Senior Research Associate at 21PSTEM, leveraging his expertise in quantitative analysis, program evaluation, mathematics pedagogy, curriculum development, and instruction. With experience in urban and suburban schools teaching elementary school and secondary mathematics, Dr. Kramer brings a diverse classroom perspective to his work. He holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Maryland, a master’s of education in teaching from the University of Maryland, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Georgetown University. Read more about Kramer’s work.
Sources
Kramer, S. L., Posner, M. A., Browman, A. S., Lawrence, N. R., Roem, J., & Krier, K. (2024). The impacts of a standards-based grading system emphasizing formative assessment, feedback, and re-assessment: A mixed methods, cluster randomized control trial in ninth grade mathematics classrooms. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2023.2287594
