Definition
The instructor's process of evaluating a learner's completion of each training lesson against the standards defined in the syllabus, recording whether the learner met those standards, needs additional practice, or must repeat the lesson before moving to the next stage of training.
Plain English
Judging how well a student performed in a lesson and writing down the result, so both the instructor and the student know whether they are ready to move on or need more work.
Context Anchor
Seen in training syllabi, lesson records, stage checks, and instructor guidance for how each flight or ground lesson will be evaluated.
Derivation
Grading' comes from the Latin gradus, meaning 'step.' That fits here because each lesson is a step in the syllabus, and grading decides whether the learner has taken that step well enough to climb to the next one.
Why Pilots Care
Honest, consistent grading protects the learner. It catches weak skills early, prevents shaky pilots from moving into more demanding lessons, and creates a clear training record that supports checkride readiness and certificate issuance.
Intuition Check
Do not read grading as judging the learner as a person. In this context, it means measuring a demonstrated result against a stated training standard.
Example Sentence 1
After the cross-country lesson, the instructor sat down with the learner and went through grading learner performance against each item on the syllabus.
Example Sentence 2
Consistent grading learner performance allows training to stay on schedule by catching small issues before they become bigger problems.