David Frangiosa interviews Paul Emerich France, founder of the Sustainable Teaching Project, exploring shifts that teachers can make to avoid burnout, including assessment practices that invite and empower student participation in their own learning.

I want you to be able to rely on the skills we practice. But more than that, I want you to be able to make purposeful, savvy decisions about why you are writing in the way that you’re writing. This skill, more than any other, is what will serve you well in the future.

When we focus on assessment as a means of communication with and alongside our learners, it leaves space for their inner stories to be told and included. We are building the foundation for student-to-self and student-to-material relationships that can serve well beyond the confines of curricula and classrooms.

If we want teachers to focus less on grades and more on feedback and growth, don’t we as administrators need to do the same?

Having spent a good deal of time learning about creating a gradeless classroom, I returned to the classroom ready to make a change.

The process of building a portfolio and reflecting on one’s work teaches students important metacognitive skills needed to improve self-regulation. The conference allows students to demonstrate their best work and participate in the evaluation process...

It’s generally assumed that we have to provide consistency for students so that everything is fair, and students are consistently evaluated with regard to their achievements, no matter what school they attend. The fact is that this is pretend. Consistency is illusory.

The only reason many of us will stop pushing ourselves to the breaking point is if it turns out that it’s not only bad for us, it’s also bad for students. As Arthur Chiaravalli explains, that actually seems to be the case.