This year marks the 10th anniversary of Grow Beyond Grades, and we’re celebrating by bringing together the educators whose work has shaped our community and our forthcoming book, Grow Beyond Grades.

Each Community Gathering this year continues a conversation begun on the Grow Beyond Grades podcast the Sunday before. This week, we’re joined by P. L. Thomas, Professor of Education at Furman University and a longtime teacher, writer, and advocate for de-grading and de-testing education.

Paul has spent more than four decades reconsidering the relationship among grades, feedback, writing, and learning. His approach has continued to evolve—from delaying grades on student writing, to emphasizing revision and workshop, to using grade contracts that make expectations transparent while creating more room for students to experiment, make mistakes, and learn.

In Sunday’s podcast episode, Paul reflects on that evolution, including why students can experience feedback as judgment, how grading can make students risk-averse, why he sees writing workshop as rigorous individualized instruction rather than an absence of structure, and how grade contracts can help build trust between students and teachers.

At our Community Gathering, we’ll continue that conversation—and invite you into it. How can we make feedback feel more like an invitation to learn than a judgment? What happens when we delay grades and give students room to revise, experiment, and make mistakes? And how can educators move toward more humanizing practices even when they still work within graded systems?

You don’t need to have listened to the podcast to join us. Come with your questions, experiences, and curiosity.

Please RSVP to let us know you are coming. And help us spread the word!