Inspire Academies News Blog

Providing Families with More Robust Feedback, AFIA Moves to Standards-Based Grading

The primary purpose of grading is to communicate student achievement. Over time grading has transformed into a process that tried to package many factors into one simple number. That is why at Anne Frank Inspire Academy, we are committed to sharing intentional, consistent, and meaningful information about each student's learning process. We do this by providing syllabi that specifically lay out our expectations for each unit. Syllabi communicate to parents and students what matters most: what a student needs to know, what they need to be able to do, and what they are becoming.

Syllabi artboard

Part of reimaging education is sometimes just staying focused on what matters: student learning. Standards-based grading allows us to do just that:

  1. You decide what's worth learning. That begins with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). It is what the state requires students to master.
  2. Beyond that, what is it a student must know?
  3. What is it a student can do with the information once they know it?
  4. Finally, what is a student becoming?

Parents have often raised great kids who work hard, and their grades reflect it, but schools do them a disservice by not accurately communicating what they specifically know or can do. 


We believe at Anne Frank Inspire Academy that by providing students and parents with this specific feedback, we can better serve families while ultimately working together to ensure that all students belong, find joy, and become great!