Mastery Grading

In this guide, you will learn

• What Mastery Grading is
• How to create a grade record using mastery grading
• How to create learning objectives
• How to create scales
• How to record mastery scores

What is Mastery Grading?

Mastery Grading is a strategy that focuses on students' progress toward mastering specific learning objectives or standards, rather than averaging scores from traditional assignments. Instead of receiving one cumulative grade for a subject, students receive scores for each objective, allowing educators and families to track growth and identify areas of strength or need.

In Spark, Mastery Grading allows schools to define custom learning objectives, apply scoring scales, and determine how final scores are calculated—offering a flexible, standards-based grading solution.

Creating a Grade Record Using Mastery Grading

To create a Mastery grade record:

1. In the Gradebook, click + Add Grade Record.
   Note: All students added to the gradebook will be included in the grade record. You can add or remove students after creating the record.
2. In the New Grade Record modal:
   • Set Grading Strategy to Mastery.
   • Choose whether this grade should be included in GPA calculations.
     • If yes, enter the credit hours.
   • Select the Mastery Scale to use.
     • Spark provides example scales, or you can create a custom one.
3. Click Create Mastery Record.

Once created, you’ll land in the record, which has three tabs:

• Table View – Enter scores for students by learning objective.
• Student View – View and enter scores by student.
• Learning Objectives – Create or upload standards to score.

Adding Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives (or standards) define what students are expected to master. These can be added ad-hoc to grade reports, or you can create a library of learning objects to apply to various grade records.

Coming Soon: We are adding custom organization for your school's objective sets, and the ability to extend Common Core Standards.

To add learning objectives to your library:

1. Navigate to Mastery Objectives in the left-hand navigation menu.
2. Click + Add New Objective Set.
3. Enter a name and (optionally) a description for the objective set.
4. Add Objectives
   You can add objectives in two ways:
   • Manually: Add objectives one at a time by clicking + Add Objective.
   • Bulk Upload via CSV:
     1. Click + Add Via CSV.
     2. Download Spark’s template by clicking Download Empty CSV.
     3. Fill out the CSV with objective names and descriptions.
     4. Return to Spark and click Upload Completed CSV.
     5. Review the uploaded objectives.
     6. Click Create All to finalize the import.

To add learning objectives to a grade record:

1. Go to the Learning Objectives tab in the grade record.
2. Click Import Saved Objectives and select from your previously saved objective sets.
3. OR add new objectives as needed by clicking + Add Learning Objectives and chosing to create them one at a time or in bulk.

Once created, learning objectives appear in both the Table View and Student View, ready for scoring.

Creating and Managing Scales & Final Score Calculations

What is a Mastery Scale?

A mastery scale defines the levels of understanding or performance students can demonstrate. Unlike traditional grades, these levels reflect progress toward mastery. Each level can be mapped to a GPA value if needed.

Example Mastery Scale:

4 - Exceeding Standards

3 - Meeting Standards

2 - Approaching Standards

1 - Below Standards

0 - No Evidence

This scale also defines:

• Passing Score (e.g., 3+)
• Objective Score Calculation (e.g., Highest)
• Final Grade Calculation (e.g., Highest)

You can use Spark’s built-in scale or define your own on the Standards & Scales page.

Final Score Calculations

When students have multiple scores for an objective, Spark needs a way to calculate the Objective Score and the Final Result for the grade record.

Calculation Methods Available:

• Highest Score – Uses the student’s best attempt.
• Most Frequent – Uses the score that occurs most often.
• Most Recent – Uses the latest score entered.
• Average – Averages all scores.

Coming Soon:

• Decaying Average – Gives more weight to recent scores.
• Power Law – Uses a predictive model that rewards growth over time.

These settings are chosen when creating or editing a Mastery Scale.

Recording Mastery Scores

Once learning objectives are in place, you can begin scoring students in either the Table View or Student View.

Table View

1. Find the student and learning objective in the table.
2. Click the + to add a score.
3. Select the Score Level, enter the Date, and optionally add Notes.
4. Click the pink checkmark to save.
5. To add another score for the same objective, click the existing score and select Add Another Entry.
6. The Final Score for each student appears at the far right. You can click it to override with a manually calculated score if needed.

Student View

1. Go to the Student View tab.
2. Select a student from the dropdown menu.
3. For each learning objective, click + Add Result.
4. Enter the Score, Date, and optional Notes.
5. Click Save.
6. You can add multiple entries per objective.

At the bottom of each student’s page, their Final Score appears and can also be manually edited.