The moment is right for critical reflection on what has been assumed to be a core part of schooling. In Ungrading, fifteen educators write about their diverse experiences going gradeless. Some contributors are new to the practice and some have been engaging in it for decades. Some are in humanities and social sciences, some in STEM fields. Some are in higher education, but some are the K-12 pioneers who led the way. Based on rigorous and replicated research, this is the first book to show why and how faculty who wish to focus on learning, rather than sorting or judging, might proceed. It includes honest reflection on what makes ungrading challenging, and testimonials about what makes it transformative.
Susan D. Blum is professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. Her work on education builds on her academic specialties of linguistic, psychological, cultural, and educational anthropology. She is the author of My Word! Plagiarism and College Culture and ""I Love Learning; I Hate School"": An Anthropology of College, among other works.
Foreword Alfie Kohn Introduction: Why Ungrade? Why Grade? Susan D. Blum Part I: Foundations and Models 1. How to Ungrade Jesse Stommel 2. What Going Gradeless Taught Me about Doing the ""Actual Work"" Aaron Blackwelder 3. Just One Change (Just Kidding): Ungrading and Its Necessary Accompaniments Susan D. Blum 4. Shifting the Grading Mindset Starr Sackstein 5. Grades Stifle Student Learning. Can We Learn to Teach without Grades? Arthur Chiaravalli Part II: Practices 6. Let's Talk about Grading Laura Gibbs 7. Contract Grading and Peer Review Christina Katopodis and Cathy N. Davidson 8. Critique-Driven Learning and Assessment Christopher Riesbeck 9. A STEM Ungrading Case Study: A Reflection on First-Time Implementation in Organic Chemistry II Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh 10. The Point-less Classroom: A Math Teacher's Ironic Choice in Not Calculating Grades Gary Chu Part III: Reflections 11. Grade Anarchy in the Philosophy Classroom Marcus Schultz-Bergin 12. Conference Musings and The G Word Joy Kirr 13. Wile E. Coyote, the Hero of Ungrading John Warner Conclusion: Not Simple but Essential Susan D. BlumAcknowledgments Contributors Index
"Nuanced and well balanced." ???????Choice Reviews "I love this book. It undermines the mythology around grading, helping us understand that (a) grading is a construction, and a relatively recent one at that, and (b) we'd be better off without it--as would our students." Paul Hanstedt, author of Creating Wicked Students: Designing Courses for a Complex World
