Example:

Characteristics:

Assignments:40% 

Quizzes: 10%

Midterm: 20%

Final Project: 10%

Final Test: 20%

• The teacher must decide the various kinds of performance and how they are valued.
• Student performance in each category is kept separate from other categories.
• Each category is averaged and then counted for a certain percentage of the total course grade. In our example, this means that students who perform well on quizzes will have a limited effect on their grade compared to students who do well on assignments.

Example:

Characteristics:

92-100 points = A

85-91 points = B

76-84 points = C

69-75 points = D

68 points or below = F

• To some extent, poor performance in one area can be compensated by work in other areas.
• Poor performance early in the course is not necessarily crippling if the student performs well later on.
• Conversely, if students perform well during the first three quarters of the class, their participation and work may decline near the end of the course.
• This grading system allows students more control over where they put their effort in the course.

Example:

To earn a particular course grade, a student must meet or exceed the standards for each category of work. If not all of the category expectations are met on the highest level, the student receives the grade for which all the category expectations are met.

If a student receives an A average in their graded work but only passes 80% of their labs, they would receive a course grade of B because that was the highest level at which they meet the standards for both categories.

Characteristics:

• Each category of work is important and the teacher does not want the student compensating for it in other ways. For example, if the teacher values student preparation as being definitional for an A grade, this category can be used as a standard that must be met in order to earn an A grade.
• This system must be carefully and thoroughly explained to students since it is not as common as other models. Explain to them that they are not being knocked down to their lowest grade, but instead they did not meet all the requirements to qualify for the higher grade.