ACT public schools will introduce standardised A to E grading, after Auditor-General Maxine Cooper highlighted the inconsistency in the territory's education system.
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The ACT government agreed in-principle to implement a "standards-based moderation process" across schools after the current system drew criticism from the audit office.
In the new system, C grades will be assigned when students demonstrates the expected level of learning in a year. If students exceed expectations, they'll receive an A or a B, while those who fall short will receive Ds or Es.
The ACT Education Directorate said their focus would now be increasing teachers' understandings of the year-level standards and increasing the consistency of their judgement of student work at each level, identifying how far above or below it was above the standard level and assigning grades accordingly.
"We are implementing more consistent judgment and assigning of grades through professional development and teacher collaboration around standards-based assessment," a spokesperson said.
"There is unlikely to be a discernible difference apparent to parents and students. However, it will provide teachers, parents and students with greater confidence that grading reliably reflects each student's level of achievement."
In May, Dr Cooper questioned the territory's model of giving schools "considerable" autonomy, saying a better balance between autonomy and consistency on how performance information was analysed and used was needed.
"This appears to have resulted in a high level of variability in the use of student performance information and management information systems and a wide range of school-based assessment tools used across ACT public schools; for a small jurisdiction such as the ACT this is excessive," Dr Cooper wrote.
School principals told the audit office they wanted more guidance on how to use and analyse student performance information.
The education directorate said territory schools had already been moving towards a more consistent grading system with the rollout of the national curriculum.
That process began in 2011 and will finish next year.
Shifting to A to E grading descriptors involved a "significant change in practice" from outcomes-based to standards-based assessments.
"Doing this week takes time and requires careful sequencing," a spokesperson said.
