Say that plainly first, because it decides whether this page is useful to you. ClassSense has no standards library and does not tag skills to standards. It only reads a standard if it appears in the document you upload. It does not sync to a gradebook or learning management system, and official grades are entered by hand. What it does is track mastery of skills from student practice, and that can be one input to your own standards-based gradebook.
What standards-based grading asks of you
- Grade the standard, not the assignment. A score belongs to a learning target, not to "Worksheet 7."
- Separate behavior from mastery. Late work, effort and participation are reported on their own so they do not bury what a student knows.
- Use the most recent, most consistent evidence. Early struggle should not drag down a grade for something the student now understands.
- Allow reassessment. The point is learning the standard, so there has to be a way to show it later.
- Use a small scale with clear descriptors, such as four levels, not a hundred points.
The practical weight is evidence management. You are tracking dozens of targets per student, each with several pieces of evidence, and the system you build for that is either simple or it collapses by October. See standards and learning targets and mastery-based grading for related ideas.
How the ClassSense mastery states can inform yours
For each student and skill, ClassSense shows Struggling, Developing, Approaching or Mastered. Mastered requires at least five answers at about 85% accuracy, and mastered skills come back later for a quick check. That gives you a cheap, current picture of who is probably there and who is not, which is the raw material for a standards-based conversation.
A realistic use looks like this.
Map it yourself
Decide which skill packs support which of your standards. If the standard is written in the document you uploaded, it will be visible there.
Use the states as evidence
A Mastered state on practice is one piece of evidence. A Struggling state is a flag to look closer.
Confirm with an assessment
Generate an Assessment from Create Content for the reassessment. It downloads as a .docx and you score it.
Record the grade in your own system
Use the Override option, with a reason, if the data does not match what you know about a student.
Practice is not an assessment of record. The data comes from student practice, which has hints, feedback and repeat attempts, and practice items are multiple choice. A student can reach Mastered through practice and still struggle on a task that asks for explanation or transfer. If you grade a standard that requires writing, building or showing work, the evidence for that has to come from you.
What you still do
Defining the standards and what each level means, choosing the evidence, recording grades in the school's system and talking to families about what a level means. A mastery grid does not do those jobs, and it should not be mistaken for a gradebook. Parents linked through the parent portal can see their own child's progress, but that is a view of practice, not a report card.
For the data itself, see mastery tracking.
Common questions
Does ClassSense align to my state standards?
No. It has no standards library and does not tag skills to standards. It reads standards only if they appear in the document you upload.
Can it send grades to my gradebook?
No. There is no gradebook or LMS sync. Official grades are transferred by hand.
Can I use mastery states as part of a standards-based grade?
As one piece of evidence, yes, alongside your own assessments. Practice with hints and retries is not the same as an assessment of record.
What if the mastery state does not match what I know?
Use Override on the skill and give a reason. Your judgment outranks the model.