Lindbergh Schools to expand standards-based grading to sixth and seventh grades in 2026–27

Tara Sparks, Chief Academic Officer for Lindbergh Schools, outlined a multi-year plan to expand standards-based grading to sixth and seventh grades in the 2026–27 school year, move the district to a four-point proficiency scale and provide semester grades to give families clearer measures of student progress. "My name is Tara Sparks. I'm the Chief Academic Officer for Lindbergh Schools," she said at the start of the briefing.

Sparks defined standards-based learning as focusing "on the skills and knowledge every student is expected to master" and said the district will use that framework to identify essential curriculum and thread it through instruction and assessment. The approach, she said, is designed to tell families "specifically what students know and can do" rather than relying solely on traditional task-based grades.

The plan traces prior rollouts: standards-based grading began in sixth grade in 2023–24 and extended to seventh grade in 2024–25 after a 2024–25 task force of parents, students, board members, teachers and administrators reviewed whether to expand the approach. A 2025–26 steering committee translated the task force recommendations into an implementation plan, Sparks said.

Key policy changes Sparks announced include: adopting a four-point proficiency scale for standards; averaging standard-level scores into semester grades that families can view in Infinite Campus; requiring that secondary grading weight 90% on assessments and 10% on preparation work; and establishing districtwide, consistent rules for late work and retakes. "We will average each individual standard...and then we will average all of the standards together to provide a semester grade," she said when showing an Infinite Campus example.

Sparks clarified the proficiency levels: a score of 3 will represent on-grade-level work while a 4 will be "frequent, deep, more sophisticated application" of a standard. The district will teach toward level 4 but emphasize to families that earning a 3 indicates grade-level proficiency.

On retakes and late work, Sparks said the district will standardize expectations: late work will be accepted without penalty until the end of a unit, and summative assessments will be eligible for retakes with the exception of final exams; teachers will set eligibility conditions (for example, completion of preparatory work). She also noted the high school may adopt different expectations for Advanced Placement courses to align with college requirements.

Regarding measures of work ethic and effort, Sparks said the district plans a quantifiable standard: for secondary grades the district will move to a 90% assessment / 10% preparation weighting to capture preparation practices that previously were ungraded. Lindbergh Life Success Skills are being revised in 2026–27; a quantifiable work-ethic/effort standard would be added to sixth- and seventh-grade report cards in 2027–28 after that revision.

Sparks said teachers will communicate scoring expectations and retake policies at the start of the school year and post them in Canvas so families can see classroom-specific details. She framed semester grades and the numeric proficiency scale as steps to give families familiar markers while preserving standards-based detail about student learning.

The district plans to implement the steering committee's plan over the next two years and continue communicating refinements to families and staff; Sparks closed by reiterating the district's goal to provide clarity about what families should expect under the new grading practices.