Grading Made Clear: Turning Standards Into Success Criteria
#63 - Strength & Speed Coaching - Pursuing Your Best ⚡️
If students don’t know what success looks like, how can we expect them to hit the target?
Too often, grading in Strength & Speed gets boiled down to vibes (“they try hard”) or numbers (“what’s their max?”). The problem? Both approaches miss the bigger picture.
Athletes need clarity. Coaches need consistency. Parents and administrators need fairness. That’s where success criteria come in.
They make expectations visible, measurable, and teachable.*
*Full disclosure: This is a focus for me and my colleague, Ryan Whitman, this year. We are always looking to provide more clarity for our kids and believe this is one of the ways we can do that.
Why Success Criteria Matter
We’ve already talked about why grades shape culture (#61) and how attendance & effort can be measured (#62).
The next step is showing athletes exactly what’s expected of them.
For athletes: It removes guesswork and subjectivity.
For coaches: It creates a clear, fair system you can defend.
For parents/admins: It shows grading is rooted in standards, not opinion.
Without success criteria, “effort” means one thing to one student and something totally different to another.
The Big Mistake Coaches Make
Most programs fall into one of two traps:
Too vague: “Try hard,” “give good effort.” Means something different to everyone.
Too narrow: Only measuring numbers (1RMs, sprint times). Punishes beginners, injured athletes, or late developers.
Both erode buy-in. The fix? Define success using observable, repeatable behaviors.
What a “3” Looks Like
At Mustang Strength & Speed, our grading framework is built around three standards. Here’s how we define success:
Commitment (Attitude, Effort, Discipline)
Respectful and coachable in every session.
Present, prepared, water bottle and folder in hand.
Engaged and on task, not distracted.
Performance (Strength, Speed, Power)
Safe and consistent technique.
Completing assigned reps/sets with intent.
Demonstrating steady progress over time.
Vision (Goal Setting, Tracking, Reflection)
SMART goal written and revisited.
Workouts logged and progress tracked.
Reflection completed honestly and thoughtfully.
Notice what’s missing? Favorites. Subjectivity. Vibes. Instead, we grade on clear actions and habits.
Teaching the Criteria
Success criteria aren’t just written down once. They need to be taught like a skill.
Post them visibly (syllabus, poster, slide).
Practice them (walk through “prepared” vs “not prepared”).
Reinforce them daily with quick reminders.
Check for understanding: Can students repeat what a “3” looks like?
The more students hear it, see it, and practice it, the more it becomes the culture.
Why This Matters for What’s Next
Success criteria are the foundation. Rubrics are the framework.
Without criteria, rubrics feel arbitrary. With criteria, they become roadmaps.
That’s where we’re headed in the next edition (#64). I’ll share the rubrics we use in Mustang Strength & Speed, along with a paid resource pack that includes printable versions and student-friendly checklists.
If you want athletes to buy into grades, they need to buy into the standards behind them. Success criteria make expectations visible, measurable, and fair.
Keep pursuing excellence,
Preston ⚡️
If this helped, share it with another coach who’s wrestling with grading inside their Strength & Speed program.
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