Advice for Getting Started with SBG

One of our teacher ed grads emailed one of my colleagues in search of SBG resources for a pre-algebra course he's developing for next year. He wrote:

When I had you for ____, you graded our assessments using a form of standards based grading. I remember receiving a paper back that listed what standards I had mastered and which ones I still needed to work on. I have wanted to try using a standards based grading system ever since I saw it in your classroom. Would you have any resources that you would be willing to share with me?

My colleague replied with several tips and resources, including Matt Townsley's growing list of scholarly articles SBG. He also Cc'd me, and while I was drafting my own response I realized it might be better to write it as a blog post. So here it is, for what it's worth: my list of suggestions and resources for getting started with SBG in the math classroom.

SBG Indicators - Your Experience May Vary

Uh-huh...

Learning targets are hard to write.

Here's one (of 27) that I used in F'13:

D.3 I can calculate, work flexibly with, and demonstrate understanding of statistical measures of center and spread for numerical data, including: mean, median, MAD, and IQR.

If you tease that target apart, you realize it contains 12 distinct skills: {calculate, work flexibly with, and understand} x {mean, median, MAD, and IQR}.

That's a problem: such a complex target is very difficult to assess. Do they have to show all parts on a single task for a proficient score? Can they piece it together over several tasks? If so, how do we keep track?

So I swore off using complex targets for my Su'13 College Algebra course:

SBG Targets: Rubric or Checklist?

As I prepare learning targets for my next unit of instruction, I am contemplating whether it might be useful to split my targets into two categories: Checklist Targets and Rubric Targets.