Grades are the uniform and objective way that we assess student learning, right?
Wrong.
Susan D. Blum’s 2020 edited volume, Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), reminds us that more often than not, schools use grades to position students against each other rather than evaluate real learning. And numerical grades certainly don’t evaluate student progress.
We also know that other mathematical rankings like GPA are not an objective measure of student achievement or learning. Weighted GPAs exist for AP, dual credit, honors, and other courses that are more accessible to students based on race, gender, socioeconomic status, and a host of other factors. So with this in mind, the question lingers – what is the point of grades? And in very simplistic terms, the answer put forward by Blum and her colleagues is: there isn’t one. Professors can better serve students by providing clear and consistent feedback rather than numerical scores for each assignment.
Why Ungrade?
Dual credit courses are the perfect place for ungrading. Dual credit students come from a variety of backgrounds and levels of preparedness for college. Some enter the program with the tools necessary to excel immediately, and some come in as first-generation college students with little understanding of how college works. At its core, ungrading is a pedagogical method that seeks to break down structure and control barriers that often privilege some students over others. The very structure of ungrading makes it an excellent model for dual credit courses.
Ungrading also allows professors to focus more on student growth and mastery of learning outcomes. Students never walk into our class with complete knowledge of subject material. If they did, they wouldn’t need the course, to begin with! Emphasizing feedback over time allows students to grow into the content as a whole, rather than individual lessons and their weight as a scored section of the class.
How does this work?
The exact choice in how to ungrade is up to each professor. A multitude of ungrading templates exists in research and on the internet already for guidance and support. In a more practical sense, though, ungrading can present challenges for dual credit grading and administration.
K-12 partners will expect some numerical grade at the end of the course, no matter what type of dual credit program you’re in. Professors will, therefore, have to quantify a score at some point in the process. Thankfully, many of the ungrading models provide for this. Professors might consider slowly adding ungrading into their course through flexible-option assignments like the UnEssay. Others looking to dive in more fully might consider an ungrading structure that allows students to grade themselves. There are really no limits to the options available.
Key Tips:
- Developing a course around the concept of ungrading requires activities and assignments where students submit original, analysis-based work. Professors should be ready to re-think not just grading but the way they teach entirely.
- Ungrading requires a fundamental trust in students. Our students are junior scholars. We have to understand that they will act just like all other scholars (at their highest and lowest, most productive and least productive) and treat them accordingly.
- If your class is feedback-based, emphasize (and expect) honest feedback.
- Others may question your teaching methods. Be ready to support yourself with research (it is out there!).
Research and Resources:
Blum, Susan D. “I Love Learning; I Hate School”: An Anthropology of College. Cornell University Press, 2016.
Denial, Catherine J. “A Pedagogy of Kindness,” Hybrid Pedagogy, August 15, 2019, https://hybridpedagogy.org/pedagogy-of-kindness/.
Emdin, Christopher. For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood . . . and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education. Beacon Press, 2016.
Eyler, Joshua R. How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching. West Virginia University Press, 2018.
hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge, 2004.
Holtgreive, Joseph. “Too Smart to Fail? When Students Focus Their Attention on Grades and How They Are Performing, Learning May Not Result.” Inside Higher Ed. August 16, 2016. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/08/16/students-focus-too-much-grades-detriment-learning-essay.
Jaschik, Scott. “No Grading, More Learning.” Inside Higher Ed. May 3, 2010. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/05/03/no-grading-more-learning.
Jones, Christopher. “Assigning the Unessay in the U.S. Survey.” The Junto: A Group Blog on Early American History, June 26, 2018. https://earlyamericanists.com/2018/06/26/assigning-the-unessay-in-the-u-s-survey/.
Méndez Ramírez, Krys. “Academic Ableism: Fighting for Accommodations and Access in Higher Education.” Disability Visibility Project. September 23, 2019. https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2019/09/23/academic-ableism-fighting-for-accommodations-and-access-in-higher-education/.
Sackstein, Starr. Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School. Times 10 Publications, 2015.
Schinske, Jeffrey, and Kimberly Tanner. “Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently).” CBE—Life Sciences Educati 13, no. 2 (2014): 159–166.
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