Why Ungrade?

“What it really boils down to, I think, is this simple question: What are we saying to our students? What do our everyday teaching practices and classroom style say about what we think of them? What messages - whether intentional or not - do we convey to our students? Can they trust us? Are we their allies or adversaries?” 

Kevin M Gannon, Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto (31)

 

I wanted to begin this discussion with this quote from Kevin Gannon. It is one that I come back to again and again. We say things to our students about how we feel about them all the time, without opening our mouths. And when it comes to grades, our everyday practices and classroom approaches speak volumes. What we choose to reward with points, how we deal with late work, and grading comments tell students a lot about what we value. And, not all that communication is positive. Some aspects of traditional approaches communicate fail to tells students that we trust them or that we are aware of their challenges and want them to succeed.

I teach composition, and I know that some students don’t read my comments that I spend a huge amount of time writing because all that matters to them is the final grade. I know that some students spend significant time and effort working on assignments while others spend little, for the same grade. I hate to admit that the timing of my grading - first or last in the stack, or when I am tired or hungry - affects scores, but it likely does. And I am totally certain that struggling students who see poor grades early often give up and drop out. 

For an insightful reflection on this topic, I recommend Math faculty Robert Talbert's blog post, "Entering the Feedback Loop: Robert's Origin Story Links to an external site.." He describes how the experience of one Calculus student - an intelligent young woman who made learning progress at a slower rate than the course allowed for - convinced him to leave behind traditional grading systems. 

The following short video covers a discussion of two key questions: Aren't grades required? and What would I do instead?