A friend of mine mentioned on Facebook yesterday that a principal had told her that 80% of her grades needed to be either B or A. So, do not assume for a minute that American grades are norm-referenced. When you get right down to it, a significant portion of American grades are essentially meaningless.
I use a standards-based grading system to come up with traditional report card grades in a middle school (it's a weird hybrid of both systems). The school poster on the wall of my classroom says that B means proficient, and A means Advanced, exceeds expectations. So that's how I grade. I rarely hear from the parents of students who get Fs and Ds in my class, but I do hear from so many parents who tell me their child has always gotten As, they are A students, so the problem must be with my grading system.
In a way, I can see the advantage of a system that takes that tension out of the equation and unites parents, teachers, and students against a common exam.
