"I have used this grading system in my Level 2 Reading and Vocabulary class and my Level 2 Listening and Conversation class.  Both of these courses are for adult English learners in a community college setting. 

 

The biggest challenge for me has been explaining this form of grading in English to groups of low-proficiency English language learners.  It's so far outside the scope of how they are used to thinking about assessment and grading that they often have difficulty understanding the system and why I am doing it.  I wish I could get someone to translate this information into all of my students' home languages so that I could be sure that they understand it.  One way that I've tried to address this challenge is by simplifying my courses' student learning outcomes into easier English that my students have a better chance of understanding.  I also use illustrations when I explain the system. This helps some, but I still have run into a lot of students being confused about how I am assessing them, even at the end of the semester. 

 

Still, I am going to keep using this grading system, at least in some of my courses, as I like how it takes the focus off of percentages and points and puts the focus on the student learning outcomes.  If the students understand the system correctly, they come to me asking how they can improve their proficiency in certain student learning outcomes rather than asking how they can get extra credit to make up "lost points." 

 

In the end, I feel that my final assessment of whether students are prepared for the next level or not is more accurate and more directly connected to achievement of student learning outcomes than it is with a percentage-based grading system."