Northwood implemented standards-based grading across all courses for the 2025-26 school year, with the exception of Calculus.

This year marks the first time that many courses will use SBG, a system designed to measure how well students master essential skills or learning targets. Unlike the traditional grading system, where students were graded on a 100-point scale, SBG emphasizes reassessment opportunities, allowing teachers to shift the focus from percentage grades to content mastery, according to assistant principal Christina Banagas-Engelerdt. 

“Equity is part of the motivation,” Banagas-Engelerdt said. “We were looking for equitable grading practices that really focused on instruction and learning rather than compliance.”

SBG was previously limited to mostly underclassman courses such as the humanities core and integrated science courses with a few exceptions, such as Honors European Literature and AP Computer Science A. The district, after several professional development days and presentations with the  Parent Teacher Student Association over the past few years, decided to make the switch for almost all classes to use SBG’s four-point scale. A few classes, such as AP Biology and AP Physics 1, will use a five-point scale instead.  

With the new system in place, classes will emphasize evaluating students’ progress multiple times throughout a unit rather than solely one assessment. For example, in some classes students are given more opportunities with warm-ups, labs or small quizzes, which are temporarily entered in the gradebook as a sign of their learning, and are then replaced by their unit assessment.

“It’s also just shifted everything to a growth mindset, so now it’s not that you’re defined by your test score, but now it’s that I can still grow, and it’s not the last opportunity,” AP Chemistry teacher Lela Maihen said. “It’s also powerful because it’s just like giving people grace for a bad day.”

Many students, while apprehensive about the switch to SBG, responded positively to the idea of having multiple learning opportunities, particularly those enrolled in AP courses. 

“[SBG] gives me more motivation, just knowing that it’s not the end if I mess up,” junior Mia Werth said. “[But] I would say, bring back the normal system. I used to not have that much pressure when it was a percentage and it would average out.”

While Northwood plans to adjust the SBG system based on teacher feedback, students can also reach out to their teachers for help on standards they’re struggling with, in addition to taking advantage of remediation opportunities, tutorial and the Tutor Center, which is open every morning except Wednesday from 7:30-8:25 a.m. in the Media Center. 

“Our staff is highly reflective [and] asks our students to think about their strengths and areas of growth,” Banagas-Engelerdt said. “They’re exceptional at reflecting on their teaching practices and making changes in the best interest to kids, so I think that we’re just going to continue to refine the process.”