One aspect of transitioning to Customized Learning is finding systems for tracking and monitoring student learning, as well as, ways to report learning progress, especially to parents. One piece of this is some sort of standards-based grading system.
But moving too quickly to a new system of grading (and report cards) can be problematic. For example, it takes time for parents to be ready for iconic changes like approaches to grading. They might need to see other Customized Learning changes work first (like student pacing, multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery, etc.) before they believe that a new grading system is needed. In fact, we put making structural changes to school one of the last steps of transitioning to Customized Learning.
(Note: a colleague in another district believes that moving early to a new grading system forces important community dialog about the changes toward customizing learning. I think there is much to learn about doing school change work well by following the multiple approaches and how they evolve over time. I may write about how we are approaching school change, but that doesn't mean I believe it is the only effective way to do the work.)
Saving large scale change in grading practices until late in the Customized Learning implementation process that doesn't mean in the meantime teachers shouldn't find ways to move toward standards-based grading practices. There are a couple key intermediate steps that can be pursued:
- Trying standards-based grading-like practices within the traditional system
- Looking for models and examples of how others are doing standards-based grading practices
- Getting feedback from the students on how it is going (to let you know when you are on track, or what course corrections need to be made)
I recently came across Frank Noschese's blog, Action-Reaction. Clearly, he is not only working on standards-based grading in his classroom (among other things), but he is sharing what he is learning via his blog. He may not know it, but he is addressing the three intermediate steps above:
- Suggestions on doing standards-based grading in a traditional system: The Spirit of SBG
- How Frank Noschese is doing standards-based grading: Standards-Based Grading Category (Also, look down the side bar to “SBG Blogs” for other blogs that write about this work)
- Responses to his survey of students: Reasons Why Kids Like SBG
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Multiple Pathways 
Hey Mike, how do you keep track of your students’ mastery and report on the learning progress? I work for a company called Gradeable that helps track student mastery via digital portfolios with features like standards tagging for your assessments. We’re a grading tool built on user-centric design so it’d be great to get your input. Any interest in giving it a shot?
Bon, our district is using Educate. If you click on the Learning Progress Measurement category on my blog, you should be able to find more information about it.