Marlborough has implemented a new system of standardized grading scales in assessments for the 2024-25 school year. Teachers now have the option to use either the standard 100-point grading scale or alternative 5- or 4-point grading scales when assessing their students.
Directly following Marlborough’s return from the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were free to experiment with different grading scales. As a result, for the past three years, eight or nine different grading scales have been used across Marlborough’s academic courses. In order to consolidate these scales, teachers began regularly meet last year to discuss establishing a more standardized grading system.
“Since the school has returned from the pandemic, we’ve been trying to better understand and put in practice some of the academic practices that all teachers are implementing in their classrooms,” Director of Studies Jonathon Allen said. “And grading is no exception.”
The finalized 5- and 4-point grading scales are mastery-based learning systems, meaning that students are scored using learning targets that represent different degrees of proficiency. The 5-point scale measures grades based on five levels of content understanding: Scoring a 10 signifies a “Thorough Understanding,” scoring a 9 represents an “Advancing Understanding,” an 8 means the student has a “Developing Understanding,” a 7 indicates an “Emerging Understanding and a 5 means the student has “Not Enough Understanding.”
The 4-point scale uses the same descriptors to define each grade, with the only difference being that it uses 4 levels — 10, 8.5, 7.5 and 5 — to assess students’ knowledge, lacking the additional “Developing Understanding” measure.
One motivation behind the decision to implement a standardized grading scale was to improve clarity in terms of what students are expected to accomplish and how teachers are expected to grade assessments. In past years, some students have had difficulty managing studying for classes that had different grading systems.
“Because my classes used different grading systems, I often grew confused about what was expected of me and how I was being assessed,” Mattie ’25 said.
Allen predicts that clearer and more uniform grading expectations for students will reduce their cognitive loads and make it easier for them to prepare for assessments.
“I anticipate a lot more clarity in terms of what the students know and what they can do, on both the student’s side and teacher’s side,” Allen said.
