7. Grading Practices I

Shortly after final exams and running a two-day institute on grading practices, Ben and Amanda scoop their brains back into their head buckets and talk traditional grading practices – who do they help and who do they harm? Practices include (1) grading participation, effort, and attendance, (2) late penalties, (3) extra credit, (4) graded homework, and (5) the zero for missing assignments. Grading practices are a mess and rife with judgements about student behavior. As faculty, we need to let down our walls and start talking to each other to reflect on what we do, start being intentional, and start being transparent with students.Did Amanda mention Grading Practice Speed Dating? Spoilers! Was that more or less surprising than when Ben talked about removing late penalties and ending up with 500+ late assignments at the end of the semester? This work is not new and there is a plethora of literature out there, both in terms of research and books on practice. This episode is brought to you by all of that. If you are looking for a place to start, consider one of the following:

1. Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman, 2019 (also the source of the catching 8 of 10 fish example)2. Grading for Growth by David Clark and Robert Talbert, 20233. Ungrading: Why rating students undermines learning (and what to do instead) by Susan Blum, 2020And come back next week for ways to clean up the grade book with stories of what worked and what didn’t. Let’s turn “grading practice” into “grading figured it out.”