Pros:

• Aligns with the TCAP scoring categories to give parents a better idea of where their students fall on that spectrum: “ASD is being more honest about how kids are doing. They are no longer artificially inflating grades. If you can only answer 64% correctly, you get a 64, not a 70. Assuming the tests they are using are aligned with TCAP, there should be no big surprises when the scores come back next year.”
• The system is based on mastery, which allows students to raise their grade over time as they master and improve: “It’s good, too, that the ASD is doing standards-based grading. They are breaking the subject-area grades out into the major strands. And so, instead of just getting a Math grade, you get a grade on Equations, on Ratios & Proportions, on Geometry, etc. This is important because these are all very different skills. Maybe a kids is great at equations, but is really struggling with geometry. You don’t get that in the traditional grading system. But here you have more information, and more specific information, that tells kids what they need to be working on and tells parents where they should be helping their kids.”

Cons:

• COMMUNICATION (like almost everything with the ASD) hasn’t been positive and consistent: “The initial letter they sent home had the wrong grading scale. And that same letter referred to homework, classwork, and studying as “nonacademic.” The latter, especially, put them on the defensive from the go.”
• The system is designed to more closely align to the TCAP, but keeps the traditional grading levels (A, B, C, etc.), causing confusion: “There’s no way getting around the fact that a 59, what was solidly an “F” before, is now a “C.” Or that a kid can get a “D,” which is a passing grade, with a 47. That’s right – you can pass while getting more answers wrong than right! It’s no wonder folks are accusing them of lowering standards!”

I’ve posted sections here, but the entire piece is worth a read as it covers the whole issue in much more depth than the snippets I’ve posted here give you.