Going Gradeless: Katelynn Giordano, Deanna Lough, Jeffery Frieden, Aaron Blackwelder, &
Abby French – 5 different positions on the assessment spectrum – a helpful tool to position yourself!
This podcast/video is discussion around gradeless education and exactly what I need to understand gradeless education better. When Katelynn Giordano said, “grades are communication” I had to pause the video and think about that for a minute. This is a very true statement; grades are how teachers communicate with students and their parents. Katelynn goes on to say that if our communication is only focused on A-F and percentages, then that is poor communication. I never considered this growing up, but the majority of communication my parents would have had with my teachers was a single grade and maybe 1 or 2 generic comments. She uses an example of a 127-point assignment; telling a parent their child got 112/127 means absolutely nothing. That is not explaining what the child learned, how they grew, how they achieved, or even what they know. 112/127 means nothing!
Deanna Lough said that “Grades are documentation” and seem too formal, almost like we are going to court. This is another point I reflected on; a teacher’s grade book really was treated like some formal documentation that could be used as evidence: “well see here, your child failed because he got a 55% and 52% on these 2 assignments in March and…..”. It comes across like the teacher is just backing themselves up, so they have “evidence” to provide angry parents…. I personally think a book full of numbers is not a good reflection of a student. How can a bunch of percentages and letters show a child’s growth over the course of a year? Jeffery Frieden goes one step further by saying the “gradebook is a bad storyteller”. I truly believe this, a gradebook is just a testament to if the students met YOUR standards, not a testament to their growth and learning. Imagine a student overcame a milestone and was able to read more effectively but failed a diorama on Lord of the Flies. Their grade would show a D- for the diorama but would have no indication that the student is now reading more effectively and comprehending what they read. The gradebook focuses on all the wrong things.
Like I said, I struggled to fully understand this concept at first, but I can see in myself how much my mindset has grown and changed now. That growth cannot be represented by my GPA, it is a personal growth that I am proud of. I understand why gradeless education is better for my students and I can see the value in it. That is my personal learning journey that I am excited and proud of, but not something that a professor’s gradebook would ever be able to tell. The proficiency scale is a much better indication of a student’s achievements, especially when the scale and rubric are decided on by the teacher AND the students together!
