Dear Parents/Guardians,
St. Mary’s Spring Academy is excited to introduce Standards Based Grading in grades kindergarten through third grade for the 2021-22 school year! Standards Based Grading is a best practice initiative the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is leading all of its schools towards implementing in the coming school year. The archdiocese, principals, and teachers have been learning with each other for the past three years to prepare for the upcoming school year.
Standards Based Grading will offer a more accurate and transparent way of communicating information about what your child is expected to learn and how they are progressing along their learning path. While we recognize that with change comes challenges, this new approach to grading will benefit all stakeholders including students, teachers and parents/guardians.
Standards-based grading communicates how students are performing on a set of clearly defined learning targets called standards. The purpose of standards-based grading is to identify what a student knows, or is able to do, in relation to pre-establish learning targets, as opposed to simply averaging grades/scores over the course of a grading period, which can mask what a student has learned, or not learned, in a specific course. It will also provide parents with a more detailed outline of their student’s growth and achievement.
We believe clear communication between school and home throughout the course of the year is vital to our students’ success. We look forward to working together to provide your child the knowledge and tools needed to reach their fullest potential. By utilizing Standards Based Grading, our goal is to continue providing an environment that creates meaningful, intentional conversations between students, teachers and parents regarding each student’s learning goals. We believe that Standards Based Grading is a great avenue to help each student set and achieve individual learning goals with the help of their parents and teachers.
Over the next several months, we will be sending communications through the eLedger to discuss the details of Standards Based Grading and the benefits it will have on our school community.
Thank you for your partnership!
God Bless,
Steven Kelnhofer
Principal SMSA
February 12 and 15, 2021: No school for students on both days. Teachers will report to campus on February 15th.
Ledger Learning Guide
Parents are always encouraged to check the SMSA Ledger Learning Guides Home Page to see weekly learning targets, resources and expectations in every course. Parental partnership in helping students stay organized and focused on learning is always appreciated.