Our new grading system at Cambridge College Lima is something we have worked hard on to create clarity and coherence between three distinct curricula and assessment criteria.
As Adrian Everitt, Deputy Head, explained in our recent newsletter, the competency-based curriculum used in Peru has real benefits, but also presents a challenge in its accompanying letter-grading system. In particular, the reduction to only four grades – AD, A, B and C – offers limited motivation to students, especially as just one of those letter grades – the ‘A’ – is expected to be attained by the large majority.
In Middle and Senior School, instead of a range of only four grades, we use seven relating perfectly to IB Diploma grading, which uses a range from 1 up to 7, with IB grade 4 being the minimum required for passing each subject – just as our A4 is the minimum for reaching the 'expected level’ in the Peruvian system. This is done by simply splitting each of the highest grades into sub-divisions, so that we have:
●AD7 & AD6: Outstanding achievement.
●A5 & A4: Expected achievement.
●B3 & B2: Achievement in progress.
●C1: Achievement still at inception.
Within each split grade, the lower number (AD6, A4 and B2) indicates that the student has done just enough to reach that grade; whereas the higher number (AD7, A5 and B3) indicates that their achievement is more firmly within that grade, and approaching the grade above.
For example, a student achieving grade B3 knows that they are close to an A, and this can motivate them to make the necessary effort to get there. Or a student achieving grade AD6 can be pleased to have reached the top bracket, but also knows that they could still improve further.
The modification is small, but the effect on student motivation is significant.
We have also aligned our system with Cambridge IGCSE grading:
●A* = AD7
●A = AD6
●B = AD5
●C = A4
●D = B3
●E = B2
●F or G = C1
Students become aware in Middle School that they should always aim to achieve at least grade A4 and in Senior School corresponds to both IGCSE and IB passing grades. Achieving A5, AD6 and AD7 in school should mean that they are on track for getting top grades in IGCSE exams and the IB Diploma.
At the end of the academic year we report our grades to the education authorities (MINEDU) simply as AD, A, B and C 🇵🇪 🇬🇧 🌎