“School isn’t fun. By that, I mean engaging for students and rewarding for educators. It’s the opposite. It’s like boot camp for a lot of students.” Bissegger says.
This isn't only a teacher problem, its a student problem. If teachers are having a hard time, so are the students. These problems affect everybody, even those who we're trying to help and educate.
Kneller, who in 2024 wrote her doctoral dissertation on teacher burnout, says the focus should be on the workplace. “The people that dictate what our daily lives look like—that’s where there needs to be more awareness and accountability.”
Many problems educators face day to day isn't within the classroom. The reason for many so called burnouts come from up higher.
In 2025, researchers at the University of Missouri released a study in which they surveyed around 500 public school teachers. They found that 78 percent have thought about quitting their profession since the pandemic. The reasons? A lack of administrative support, excessive workloads, inadequate compensation, and challenging student behaviors.
This statistic comes as no surprise. I know many teachers have grown frustrated due to these factors. Many have grown frustrated, though of leaving the profession, and giving up.
This approach meant that children’s grades would reflect academic mastery and nothing else.
Also, helps teachers grade certain assignments more fairly and easier. Such as written assesments.
Teachers made adjustments. We increased formative assessments. We added reassessment windows. We delineated between assignments that could be retaken and ones that couldn’t.
Its crucial for staff to find ways around standard based grading for success. If it's to lenient, students will fail to do work and more importantly to learn. If to strict, there's really no point at all to the change.
Students have multiple opportunities to retake assessments, with their final grade reflecting their mastery of a skill or standard rather than the average of various assignments.
This is the great thing about standards based grading. Students wont always, even not often, fully grasp the concept the first time around. With the second time around, and with more practice and opportunities, it gives the students a chance to really master the skill and content. Rather then just getting bye.
Our A’s and B’s represented that she completed classwork, turned in her homework, and participated in class. None of that meant that she grasped the content and skills
This is what grade based grading is about. Students completing work and turning it in. It doesn't reflect how a student really understands content.