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.

Aaron Blackwelder interviews Paul Thomas, Professor of Education at Furman University, Greenville SC about how grades and grading create inequities for both students and teachers.

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.

Arthur Chiaravalli interviews David Kirkland, Executive Director of The NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and The Transformation of Schools. He is the author of A Search Past Silence: The Literacy of Young Black Men and co-editor of Students Right to Their Own Language.

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.

Arthur Chiaravalli interviews Arizona State University professor, Asao B. Inoue, author of the book, Labor-Based Grading Contracts: Building Equity and Inclusion in the Compassionate Writing Classroom.

Aaron Blackwelder hosts Teachers Going Gradeless co-founder Arthur Chiaravalli, author of the recent blog post “How I Go Gradeless.”

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.

Aaron Blackwelder hosts middle school math teacher, Jared Hamilton, author of the recent blog post “Mario Maker and Going Gradeless in Math.”

Authentic participation is the gateway to student-led learning and engagement. Through participation, students gain confidence in their abilities, discover new ideas and skills, and eventually take responsibility for their own learning.

In this episode, Aaron Blackwelder hosts Matthew Johnson, the author of the book Flash Feedback.

Teacher educator, Karis Jones, explains how teachers can use digital spaces to encourage liberatory approaches to language in classroom discourse practices.