Putting agency over one’s grades into the hands of learners allows them to exercise metacognitive skills. When students learn to self-assess accurately, it enables them to transfer skills and understanding well beyond the classroom.

Creating and maintaining portfolio evidence as the learning happens results in richer, more nuanced representations of learning over time. When students and teachers capture learning as it happens, it is no longer an add-on reporting method after a performance task is completed.

Susan D. Blum, editor of the book Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), shares how she uses conferences to consult learners in their full humanity (as much as they choose to share it), to learn about their learning and what it means in their lives.

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.

Including behaviors in the grade opens the door to the influence of implicit bias. Still, we know that soft skills and work habits are critical to student success. Rachael Kettner Thompson shares how she helps students to reflect on and communicate their growth in these crucial skills…outside of the grade.

Ungrading is more of a philosophy than a single model that says “do this and your students will learn.” Chris Sarkonak explores ungrading as a spectrum of possibilities that moves us away from the harmful traditional events-based grading that most of us grew up with.

While there is plenty of variety under the ungrading umbrella, we have more commonalities than differences. We all agree the current system needs to change, and we all recognize the way grading is intertwined with many other dimensions of pedagogy.

Don’t get me wrong, answering questions and helping students is one of my favorite parts of being a teacher. The problem is that not all questions are created equal and some questions inhibit learning.

Achieving a student-centered instructional model may be challenging. Miriam Plotinsky, author of the book Hover-Free Teaching, offers ways that teachers can foster a culture of shared responsibility for learning.

On the first day of class, your introduction to the gradeless classroom doesn’t go as expected. As you field students’ questions and concerns, you feel hurt and frustrated. Going gradeless is supposed to relieve anxiety, not cause it! What’s going on?

We know our students thrive in cultures that welcome, affirm, and challenge them. Lisa Wennerth explains why we need to also model this understanding by creating prosperous professional communities among our colleagues and peers.