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  • In this episode, Becky Peppler from the STAGR center returns to do a deep dive on how she did reassessments in her high school chemistry class. Everything from how many, when, and what students need to do before doing the retakes is discuss in great detail. If you've been looking for the steps to handle effective retakes - enjoy this wonderful conversation! And make sure to check out the upcoming STAGR conference!

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    The STAGR ConferenceTeaching More by Grading Less or Differently, Jeff Schinske and Kimberly Tanner

    Resources

    The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

    Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

    If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

    All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School...

  • Let's discuss the role of homework (or other effort pieces of learning) in an Alternatively Graded course in more depth. In this episode, Sharona and Boz look at a recent research study about the inclusion or exclusion of a "homeworK' grade in the grading architecture of a high school geometry class and the impact it had on student completion of homework as well as their final grades. We distinguish between "product", "progress", and "process" grades and discuss their potential roles in different types of courses.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    What Is Standards-Based Grading, and How Does It Work? by Matthew StoneAssessing the impact of standards-based grading policy changes on student performance and practice work completion in secondary mathematics by Huey, Silvey, Vaughan and FisherEpisode 31 -The Role of “Effort” or “Work” in an Alternative Grading Architecture and the Relationship with Due Dates

    Resources

    The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
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  • We've all heard them! The "criticisms" about alternative grading practices that don't seem quite "right" but are hard to debunk in the moment. This is the episode where Sharona and Bosley take on some common myths and misconceptions about alternative grading, as well as look at some of the history driving how the things behind the myths came to be a part of our grading systems.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    The 4 Common Myths about Grading Reform, Debunked by Matt Townsley and Sarah Morriss3 Common Myths About Standards-Based Grading by Kendell HunterOff the Mark: How Grades, Ratings, and Rankings Undermine Learning (but Don’t Have To) by Jack Schneider and Ethan HuttArtificial Scarcity: Reflecting on Artificial Limits in our Classes by David Clark

    Resources

    The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

    Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our...

  • In this episode, Joe Zeccola joins Sharona and Bosley to discuss the interplay between discrete skills and more "holistic" skills, primarily in the discipline of writing. Utilizing some questions asked by Dr. Emily Pitts Donahoe in a recent blog post about Rhetorical Analysis, Joe, Sharona and Bosley explore the balance between assessing discrete individual skills and assessing more holistic processes and how that might play into the design of an alternatively graded course.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    Teaching Reading and Analysis with…Standards-Based Collaborative Grading? by Dr. Emily Pitts DonahoeTime for Meaning: Crafting Literate Lives in Middle & High School by Randy BomerReading/Writing Connection, The: Strategies for Teaching and Learning in the Secondary Classroom by Carol Booth OlsonThe Reading Apprenticeship frameworkPoint-Less: An English Teacher’s Guide to More Meaningful GradingDeveloping Assessment-Capable Visible Learners, Grades K-12: Maximizing Skill, Will, and Thrill (Corwin Literacy) by Nancy Frey, John Hattie and Doug Fisher

    Resources

    The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
  • In this episode, Sharona and Bosley discuss student perseverance and how we might effectively help build it in our students. Looking at several research articles and providing concrete examples of ways to build student skills, join us in exploring what we can do to help students understand how they can help themselves succeed.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    On Perseverance in the Classroom, by Eric Toshalis, Ph.D.Persistence Makes the Biggest Difference to School Grades, Study Finds, from ForbesSocial and Emotional Skills of Students in the Houston Independent School District, a study by Rice UniversityBrief 5: Agreement between Student and Teacher Ratings of Students’ Social and Emotional SkillsRecognizing, supporting, and improving student perseverance in mathematical problem-solving: The role of conceptual thinking scaffolds, by Joseph DiNapoli and Emily K. MillerHow Much Can You Win, activity for building student skillsMake Me: Understanding and Engaging Student Resistance in School, by Eric Toshalis

    Resources

    The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):

  • In this episode Sharona and Bosley sit down with Colin Madland, a listener of the podcast from Canada. Colin wrote us in response to a request on a previous episode to learn more about what is going on in Canada. In addition to sharing about the state of Alternative Grading in Canada, Colin also shared his expertise as a Ph.D. candidate in education technology whose research is in technology integrated assessment. He is also a former high school physical education teacher, so we get to explore alt grading in a discipline that was new to both Sharona and Bosley.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    About Colin:

    https://cmad.land https://bsky.app/profile/cmad.bsky.social

    Colin's Publications:

    Technology-Integrated Assessment: A Literature ReviewDeveloping the Technology-Integrated Assessment Framework

    British Columbia Education Reforms:

    K-12 Student Reporting Policy for British ColumbiaK-12 Student Reporting Information for Parents and CaregiversStudent Reporting Policy Pilot

    Colin's Ph.D. Committee:

    Valerie Irvine - University of Victoria: https://www.uvic.ca/education/curriculum/faculty-staff/faculty/about/experts/profiles/irvine-valerie.php, https://valerieirvine.ca/Chris DeLuca - Queens University Ontario: https://educ.queensu.ca/people/chris-deluca, https://research.qut.edu.au/c4ie/people/chris-deluca/Okan Bulut - University of Alberta: https://apps.ualberta.ca/directory/person/bulut, https://github.com/okanbulut

    SAMR Model - Integrating Technology Into Teaching

    https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/resources/SAMR-TPACKhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666557322000210

    The Six R's of Indigenous Education and Orange Shirt Day

    A Research Publication and Grant Preparation Program for Native American Faculty in STEM: Implementation of the Six R’s...
  • In this episode, Sharona and Bosley speak with Mariah Muller, an English teacher at Santee Education Complex in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Mariah works with Bosley at his school and is in her second year of teaching. In this interview, we explore what it is like to start your teaching career from the beginning using alternative grading practices, and what Mariah's experience with grading has been like as she adapts to being a new teacher. We also thought that this would be an interesting contrast with last week's episode about a long term teacher who teaches new teachers!

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    How Learning Works: Eight Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching, by Susan Ambrose, et al.The Case Against The Zero, by Douglas ReevesEpisode 55 – Alternative Grading as a Healing Process Part 1 of 2: Exploring the Harmful Wordviews that Undergird the Letter Grading System, an Interview with Dr. Jeff AndersonEpisode 56 – Alternative Grading as a Healing Process Part 2 of 2: Exploring the Harmful Wordviews that Undergird the Letter Grading System, an Interview with Dr. Jeff Anderson

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
  • In this episode, Sharona and Bosley interview one of their former students. Dr. Mary Reeves took the MAA OPEN Math intensive training on "Redesigning Your Course for Mastery Grading" in the summer of 2023. Subsequently, she redesigned two of the math content courses for future Elementary and Middle School Math teachers. Join us to hear about Mary's experiences working with, and impacting, future teachers.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    Random Thoughts on Teaching Future Elementary Teachers, by Dr. Mary Reeves60 – The Role of Depth of Knowledge (DOK) in Aligning Assessments to Learning Outcomes: An Interview with Erik Francis

    [00:00:00] Mary Reeves: I was like, in 35 years I've never seen a student knock it completely out of the park on the very first try the way Isabella just did. And I'm not saying the rest of you didn't do a good job, you did, but this is amazing. And I want you to appreciate how incredible I think this is after doing this for years and years. Afterwards I told her, I'm like, this is going to be an assignment. I'm going to go ahead and put Mastery in your guidebook. You do not have to do it. Because you did it so beautifully the first time. Focus on something else. You've already accomplished everything that I wanted you to accomplish. After class she stayed for a few minutes and told me that was the first time she'd ever been singled out in a math class for something positive. And I'm not going to say that we both cried, but that's entirely possible.

    [00:00:57] Boz: Welcome to the Grading Podcast, where we'll take a critical lens to the methods of assessing students learning, from traditional grading to alternative methods of grading. We'll look at how grades impact our classrooms and our students success. I'm Robert Bosley, a high school math teacher, instructional coach, intervention specialist, and instructional designer in the Los Angeles Unified School District and with Cal State LA.

    [00:01:23] Sharona: And I'm Sharona Krinsky, a math instructor at Cal State Los Angeles, faculty coach and instructional designer. Whether you work in Higher ed or K 12, whatever your discipline is, whether you are a teacher, a coach or an administrator, this podcast is for you. Each week you will get the practical detailed information you need to be able to actually implement effective grading practices in your class and at your institution.

    [00:01:51] Boz: Hello and welcome back to the podcast. I'm Robert Bosley, one of your two co hosts and with me as always Sharona Krinsky. How are you doing today, Sharona?

    [00:02:00] Sharona: I am doing well. I have a theme for this semester for myself. This is the theme of Exam generation semester, because with the new job I have, I'm writing a lot of exams and it's really making me aware of how much I've enjoyed my alternative grading over the last number of years. Because I haven't had to write exams in probably six years. And now that I have to do it as part of my new job, it's proving to be a little challenging.

    [00:02:32] Boz: Well, but give a little bit more detail about that. Cause you're not just writing exams to give. What's going on with your new role that you're having to do that?

    [00:02:43] Sharona: So in my new role, I have nine different courses that I coordinate of those nine, seven of them are...

  • In this episode we explore several questions sent in by listener's of the pod. From Interim Grades, creating learning objectives for high school science courses and how to track effort to why we even put this podcast and our work in alt grading out into the world, join us as we delve into the things that YOU are most interested in learning more about.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    Next Generation Science StandardsA Parent's Guide to Grading and Reporting: Being Clear About What Matters, Chad Lang and Matt TownsleyEpisode 32 - Interview with Dr. TJ Hitchman - Active Learning and Alt Grading (and the need for structure when the internal motivation is not there)Episode 31 - The Role of "Effort" or "Work" in an Alternatively Graded CourseSpecifications Grading, Linda NilsenEpisode 33 - An Interview with Dr. Thomas Guskey

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
  • Due to technical difficulties we were unable to record a new episode this week. Therefore, please enjoy this timely replay.

    Many institutions require instructors to provide "interim" or "midterm" grades. How does this work with an alternatively graded class? In this episode, co-hosts Sharona and Bosley are once again joined by nationally board certified English teacher Joe Zeccola to discuss the practice of providing middle-of-the-term grades to students and other stakeholders. In addition to interim grades, we also discuss how redesigning your grading practices can have a profound impact on teaching practices throughout a classroom.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    Specific links here.

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe Feldman

    The Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

    If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

    All...

  • Today on the podcast Sharona and Bosley sit down with Erik Francis. An international author, educator, presenter and professional development provider, Erik has over 30 years of experience in education. He has written a number of books and blogs on Depth of Knowledge, Inquirying Questions, and other topics. In this conversation, we take a deeper look at Depth of Knowledge and how it might be used to allow us to better align our assessments with our Learning Outcomes.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    www.MaverikEducation.comDeconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method and Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning, Erik FrancisNow That's a Good Question!: How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning, Erik FrancisInquiring Minds Want to Learn: Posing Good Questions to Promote Student Inquiry , Erik FrancisNext Generation Science StandardsSlaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools, Diane RavitchThe Report of the Committee of Ten, James MackenzieA Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, by The National Commission on Excellence in Education, April 1983Cognitive Rigor & DOK Focus Area, Dr. Karin Hess

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
  • In this episode, Sharona and Bosley interview Dr. Chad Lang, the Assistant Superintendent of School Improvement at Glenwood Community School District in Iowa. Through our conversation we explore the various ways in which communication plays an important role in the impact grading reform can have on a community, a school, and a student population as well as how intentionally aligning hiring practices to your institutional values can support these efforts. We then explore the ROI of

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    Glenwood Community School District

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe Feldman

    The Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

    If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

    All content of this podcast and website are solely

  • The introduction of easily accessible large language models has reverberated through academic at all levels. For practitioners of alternative grading this has impacted in two major areas:

    Are the assessments we are asking students to do providing legitimately valid evidence of learning? (Or do they reflect students utilizing an LLM or other outside resource such as Chegg or Brainly)We are seeing student engagement levels drop precipitously in both higher education and PK-12.

    In this episode, Sharona and Bosley explore some of the research about how to make assessments that engage learners in both developing and demonstrating learning of key skills as well as providing instructors with valid evidence of learning.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    Authentic Assessments: How to Assess Students in a Way That Actually Matters, podcast episode 103 of "It's Not Rocket Science"Assessing Student Learning - Northern Illinois UniversityCourse Based Assessment Handbook, Stassen Et. Al.Understanding by Design, Wiggins and McTigheDevelopment of Authentic Assessments for the Middle School ClassroomPerformance Assessment BankMathematics Assessment ProjectKeeping Assessment in Social Studies Real

    Research Literature

    Rethinking Authentic Assessment: Work, Well-being and Society, McArthur, Feb 2022From authentic assessment to authenticity in assessment: broadening perspectives, Ajjawi, Et. Al., Oct 2023Rethinking Student Assessment: Recognizing Authentic Evidence of Learning, January 2023

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading Conference
  • It's another first here on the pod - a LIVE recording! A group of us came together to discuss what we were seeing at Mathfest and what we think needs to happen to get to a tipping point with grading reform. Thank you to everyone who joined us!

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    Mathematical Association of AmericaMathFest10 – Artificial Scarcity and Doing Alt Grading “Right” or “Wrong”: An Interview With David Clark26 – Active Learning and Alternative Grading: An Introduction to Team-Based Inquiry Learning with Dr. Drew Lewis and Dr. Steven Clontz28 – Developing and Using Technology Tools to Author Assessments – with Steven ClontzPROSE Consortium29 – The Current State and Future Wishes for SoTL in Alt Grading – with Dr. Drew Lewis54 – Reflections on the 2024 Grading Conference with Ashleigh Fox and Drew LewisTeam Based Inquiry Learning50 – How we quadrupled our pass rate: Lessons learned from Redesigning Precalculus, An Interview with Dr. Latrice BowmanCheckIt - problem generation

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):

  • In part 2 of our interview with Dr. Jeff Anderson, we delve deeply into ideas about the connections between grades, behaviourism, and anti-democracy. This is a conversation that goes well beyond the "how-to" of alternative grading and explores the WHY of grades and how they connect to some of the biggest challenges we currently face in our world.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    About Behaviorism, B.F. SkinnerBeyond Freedom & Dignity, B. F. SkinnerPunished By Rewards, 25th Anniversary Edition, Alfie KohnLabor-Based Grading Contracts: Building Equity and Inclusion in the Compassionate Classroom (The Perspectives on Writing), Asao InoueDrive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel PinkPeak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, Anders EricssonHow Learning Works: Eight Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching, Susan Ambrose, et alWealth Supremacy, Marjorie KellyThe Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind, Jonah BergerTalking About Leaving Revisited (downloads PDF), edited by Elaine Seymour and Anne-Barrier HunterNo Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age, Jane McAlevey

    Resources

    Writings and Interviews by Jeff Anderson

    Jeff Anderson's How to Become a Strategic Deep Learner projectJeff Anderson's Essential Ungrading Reading ListJeff Anderson's Antiracist Reading ListJeff Anderson's Ungrading ProjectTPSE Math | Interview with Jeff Anderson (Foothill College) and Kate Stevenson (CSU Northridge)A Conversation about Alternative Assessment (Companion Blog post to the TPSE Math Interview)

    Jeff Anderson's Hosted Resources

  • In this, our first two-part episode on The Grading Podcast, Sharona and Bosley speak with Dr. Jeff Anderson, a community college math professor who has been thinking and writing about alternative assessment practices since at least March 2021. This interview was so interesting and nuanced we just couldn't fit it into a single hour! Join us for a in-depth personal and professional journey about the impact grades had personally on Jeff and how he utilizes his lived experience to work towards a more just educational system and changes to our grading practices.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    What is Good Mathematics? Terence TaoThe Harmful Worldviews that Undergird the Letter Grading System, blog post by Dr. Jeff AndersonA Century of Grading Research: Meaning and Value in the Most Common Education Measure, Brookhart, et. alThe Happiness Lab: Making the Grade, podcast episode Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram KendiPunished by Rewards by Alfie KohnThe Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market by Naomi OreskesDrive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
  • Now that we are a few weeks out from the 2024 Grading Conference, Sharona sits down with two of the organizers (and repeat guests on the pod) Dr. Ashleigh Fox and Dr. Drew Lewis. Hear about some of the highlights of the conference for each of them, as well as what they hope to achieve with next year's conference.

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David ClarkSpecifications Grading, by Linda NilsenUndoing the Grade, by Jesse StommelGrading for Equity, by Joe Feldman

    The Grading Podcast publishes every week on Tuesday at 4 AM Pacific time, so be sure to subscribe and get notified of each new episode. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

    If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

    All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

    Music

    Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation

    Country Rock by Lite Saturation is licensed under a

  • In this episode Sharona and Bosley reflect on one year of The Grading Podcast. From memorable moments and guests to

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    Grading Podcast Episodes mentioned in this episode (in the order they are mentioned):

    6 – The Anatomy of a Learning Outcome: An Interview with Joe Zeccola13 – Interim Grades: What do we do when we have to report “grades” in the middle of a term? With Joe Zeccola39 – Systemic Change – A Look at how Los Angeles Unified School District developed their new grading policy, based on Equitable Grading practices. With Joe Zeccola33 – An Interview with Dr. Thomas Guskey: A Journey through the History of Grading Reform Efforts4 – Grading for Growth: An Interview with Robert Talbert38 – Twenty+ Small Steps to Get Started with Alt Grading (Inspired by the recent blog post at Grading for Growth)18 – The Sportscaster of Alternative Grading: An Interview with Matt Townsley46 – Extinguishing the Fires within Assessment and Grading Reform: Welcoming Back Dr. Matt Townsley42 – Metacognition, Power Structures in the Classroom, what is reasonable to expect of students? An Interview with Dr. Theresa Gaines.36 – Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently) – an Interview with Jeff Schinske, 10 years later32 – Active Learning and Alternative Grading: When Intentional Pedagogy and Intentional Assessment Truly Align31 -The Role of “Effort” or “Work” in an Alternative Grading Architecture and the Relationship with Due Dates
  • A common pushback that practitioners of alternative grading get is that students "don't know how they are doing". In this episode, Sharona and Bosley take a hard look at progress tracking and communicating progress to students. We include a variety of examples of progress trackers provided by several different alternative graders and talk about the ways in which progress tracking is important, regardless of the grading system in use.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    Progress Trackers

    Tracking Mastery Worksheet Math 1090Example of MTH 210 Grade Record sheet W23Example of 85-310 grades checklist - spring 2024, by Abigail NoyceEGI Grade Check_Zeccola AP Lang, by Joe Zeccola and Robert BosleyExample CS 120 Learner progress tracker, by Dave LargentSample Grade Sheet - by Abby Noble

    Other Resources Mentioned in the Episode

    TED Talk: The Beauty of Data Visualization, David McCandlessGetting Started Part 5: How to Determine When a Student has Completed a Learning Outcome and How to Roll it All Up Into a Final GradeEpisode 48 – Implementation Challenges and Opportunities: A Conversation with Becky Peppler and Don Smith on Working with K-12 School Districts to implement Alternative GradingHow to make and use grade trackers, Grading for Growth Blog, by David Clark

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading Conference
  • In this episode, Joe Zeccola and Dr. Ashleigh Fox join Sharona and Bosley as we look at a critique of standards-based grading written from someone in the trenches, already working in alternative grading. We discuss many of the main points of the article as a way of self-reflecting on our practices as we explore this world of alternative grading.

    Links

    Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

    We Need to Talk About Standards-Based Grading, Grow Beyond Grades BlogEffects of no feedback, task-related comments, and grades on intrinsic motivation and performance. Butler, R. and Nisan, M. 1986, Journal of Educational Psychology

    Previous Episodes for Joe Zeccola:

    Episode 6 - The Anatomy of a Learning OutcomeEpisode 13 - Interim GradesEpisode 39 - Systemic Change

    Previous Episodes for Ashleigh Fox

    Episode 15 - Alternative Grading as a Classroom Practice and a Dissertation Topic

    Resources

    The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

    Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

    The Grading for Growth BlogThe Grading ConferenceThe Intentional Academia Blog

    Recommended Books on Alternative Grading (Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!):

    Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark