Although most gradeless teachers engage in “subtraction,” removing traditional grading from our classrooms, we also need “addition” in the form of new infrastructure that connects our individual efforts to the larger systems students must navigate. 

I began my tenth year of teaching with an uneasiness about the pandemic but also optimism about new approaches to learning. This year would forever change the way I teach.

Portfolios empower students to look back on their learning, feel good about whey they accomplished, and consider how they can use what they have learned in the world beyond.

As schools reconvened on Thursday, January 7, many teachers faced two tasks: helping students make sense of yet another traumatizing “day after”—and getting them prepared for end-of-semester tests.

A week ago, we reached out to our community about their questions about labor-based grading as developed by Professor Asao B. Inoue of Arizona State University. In this post, he answers our questions!

Rachael Kettner-Thompson explains how she uses a Google Forms add-on to help students communicate a treasure trove of learning, providing timely information for parents and helpful feedback for teachers to improve their practice.

Many teachers are not in a position to go entirely gradeless, but there are still ways to “grow beyond grades.” Economics teacher Vanessa Ellis shares how she has shifted the focus toward feedback and growth, despite having to still enter grades.

Writers understand that writing requires revision, tinkering, and mistakes. Lots and lots of it. Most student writers, however, don’t welcome failure and mistakes so easily. Why?

Education professor Paul Thomas shares why grades, tests, and rubrics detract significantly from effective teaching and actually create the problems many teachers seem to be inordinately worried about.

Students need teachers to be supportive coaches, sending the message that “you’ve got this” when they run into difficulty. Sarah Beck explains why dialogic writing assessment is uniquely suited to our present challenges.

Ben Rein of the Mastery Transcript Consortium explains how the Mastery Transcript has helped a growing network of schools break the endless focus on grades, instead centering students’ unique strengths, stories, and interests.

Grades have never been good for communicating learning, but teachers who forgo them should make sure they aren’t leaving students, parents, and other caring adults in the dark. Arthur Chiaravalli shares his own approach to going gradeless.