The practice of teachers assigning
students letter or number grades to illustrate how students are
performing is an outmoded method, left over the times when
schools were regarded as factories, teachers were supervisors,
and students were workers. Not only is grading just outdated,
research has shown that grading students is damaging as well.
Researcher Alfie Kohn has found that grades can cause students
to regard learning as a chore; avoid challenging tasks; think
less deeply; fall apart when they fail; and to value ability
more than effort. In today’s society the process is as important
as the outcome; schools should reflect that.*
Point to Ponder
“The students, motivated/rewarded (or not) by grades, try to
shape their writing so as to get a better grade, and that may
become their primary goal in some cases. In turn, the teachers
feel grading forces them to give up some of their role as
"fair-minded judges and sympathetic readers.” – Lotto and Smith
in College Education.
Researcher Alfie Kohn has
identified the following schools as models of successful
to Traditional Grading”
– A summary of different practices from the Center for the
Advancement of Teaching and Learning at Kansas State University.
Alternatives” – From
the Indiana Department of Education.
SoundOut Student Activism Map
- Find out where students are organizing to challenge schools to
listen to student voice and engage students as partners in
school improvement. Includes examples and organizations from
across the US.
Rise Against Terrible Schools
– While there are many different ideas on how schools should
work, we share one common goal: changing schools for the better.
Whether that means getting students to unschool or homeschool or
just simply campaigning for some rights of students in schools,
the goal of RATS is to students work together so they can be
Students Against Testing
– Students Against Testing was created to be a strong force
against the score-obsessed education machine known as
standardized testing. At the same time, SAT also exists as an
advocate for bringing positive, creative and real-life learning
activities into the schools. SAT believes that for the reasons
stated below urgent action from the student body itself is the
most direct way to counteract the boredom and petty competition
that currently plagues the schools.
Alternative Education Resource
Organization – AERO
advances learner-centered approaches to education. AERO is
considered by many to be the primary hub of communications and
support for educational alternatives around the world.
Alternatives to Grading Student
Writing from the
National Council of Teachers of English.
Degrading to De-grading”
by Alfie Kohn in High School Magazine.
take first step in eliminating grades"
from the Buffalo (NY) News, on the National Alliance Of State
Science And Mathematics Coalitions website.
the Sheer Joy of Learning”
by Linn McBrien on the Family Education website.
Costs of Overemphasizing Achievement”
by Alfie Kohn in School Administrator. This article (and this
author) is completely committed to eliminating grades. The
author is a widely regarded researcher who has written
extensively about the dilemmas of “Rewards and Punishments” (the
title of one of his many books) in schools.
Reviews Grading Practices”
– A great summary of literature about grading in the form of a
short summary of a large bibliography about grading.
*Special thanks to Bill for the idea to create