Teaching the SACE | Assessment | Performance standards and grades
Performance standards and grades
Student work is assessed using performance standards. These standards are provided in each subject outline and describe the quality of student learning required to achieve each grade (A to E for Stage 1 and A+ to E− for Stage 2).
Subject outlines are available on every subject's homepage.
Once grades have been allocated to a student for each assessment type, you can use the grade calculator to calculate the final school assessed grade for a Stage 1 or Stage 2 subject. It does not take into account any external assessment (e.g. Stage 2 exams).
Using performance standards
Performance standards offer opportunities for teachers and students to improve the quality of their teaching and learning.
Teachers can refer to the performance standards to:
- show students what they need to demonstrate to be successful in their learning
- design assessment tasks that help students to demonstrate their learning at the highest possible level of achievement
- make decisions about the quality of the learning.
Students can also refer to the performance standards to:
- show their learning in ways most appropriate to them
- monitor their progress
- understand what is expected at the end of a learning program.
The Assessment and Reporting Guidelines [PDF 161KB] describe the processes for using grades and performance standards to assess and report student achievement in SACE subjects at Stage 1 and Stage 2.