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?

Join Aaron Blackwelder as he interviews Dr. Sarah Beck, Associate Professor of English Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at NYU Steinhardt and author of the book A Think-Aloud Approach to Writing Assessment.

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.”