Before spring semester classes began, the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) hosted faculty and staff for the Spring 2024 Teaching Effectiveness Institute (TEI). The Institute, sponsored by CITL and the Faculty Academy on Cultural Competence and Equity (FACCE), explored the ideas presented in Joe Feldman’s Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms.
Sessions
The first session, led by Dr. Shantha Smith, the Director of Facilitation from the Crescendo Education Group, covered the why, what, and how of equitable grading. In her session, Dr. Smith discussed the history of grading and asserted that because our understanding of the education system and learning has changed, we need to update our grading systems to match these new ideas. The first session also covered the three pillars of equitable grading practices: accuracy, bias-resistance, and motivation. Taking these pillars into account when determining what to grade for a course can ensure that grades focus on learning not points.
The second session, led by CITL’s Inclusive Teaching Coordinators, Drs. Linh Nguyen and Lindsay Vreeland, focused on grading students’ attendance, participation, behavior, and effort. Drs. Nguyen and Vreeland discussed how to create equitable grading practices that motivate students and encourage community and learning in the classroom rather than control and compliance.
Key Takeaways
- Grading can leave a long-lasting emotional impact on students and influence their self-perception as learners.
- Inequitable grading can disproportionately penalize students who are facing challenges, lack support systems, and experience privilege disparities.
- Basing final grades on the most recent performance can provide the most accurate reflection of understanding and foster growth mindset in students.
- Enforcing clear and consistent policies to grade student conduct and contributions to the classroom environment establishes a consistent evaluation framework.
- Reflect on whether you want student grades—particularly attendance and participation—to represent the student’s acquisition of content knowledge or student compliance.
Further Learning
Whether the practices discussed at the Institute and in Grading for Equity make sense for all our courses, we should be intentional with our grading.
Learn more about equitable grading from Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms by Joe Feldman. The eBook is available through the NIU library.
Check out CITL’s upcoming programs, including workshops that focus on equitable teaching and grading practices.
The Fall 2024 Teaching Effectiveness Institute will be held in August 2024. Details will be shared later this spring.
