The image shows a college seminar setting. A professor with a beard sits in the foreground with a laptop, gesturing as he explains something to the group. Around him, college students sit on tiered seating, listening attentively, taking notes in notebooks, or holding tablets and coffee cups. The atmosphere is informal and collaborative, suggesting a discussion-based class rather than a lecture.

Contract grading and student agency: Letting students define the path to their grade

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Traditional grading systems can miss the mark and lead to grade disputes, unclear expectations, and even unintended inequities. Contract grading offers a different approach: students and the instructor work together to set clear standards and expectations. The contract spells out how work will be evaluated and what counts as meeting those expectations, giving students more ownership of the course and more control over the grades they earn.

What is contract grading?

Contract grading lays out what work needs to be completed for each grade and how that work will be assessed. Instead of focusing on points or totals, it centers on completing agreed-upon tasks and meeting the terms of the contract, often with flexibility and room for student choice. This sets it apart from traditional points-based grading and other forms of standards-based grading, which focus on demonstrating proficiency in specific skills or competencies.

So, why should you consider using contract grading?

  • Transparency. Students know what’s required to earn the grade they want. By co-creating the contract, students engage directly with the criteria, which makes expectations more concrete and easier to interpret. This reduces guesswork about how they’ll be evaluated and helps students plan their effort and progress more deliberately.
  • Equity and inclusion. Rather than relying on instructor-only judgments, contract grading makes expectations explicit and negotiated. When designed carefully, contract grading can reduce the likelihood of unintentional grading bias by making expectations explicit and agreed upon in advance, limiting discretionary judgment at the point of grading. Well-designed contracts can also support students who are first-generation, neurodiverse, underprepared, or have needs you didn’t anticipate.
  • Student agency. Students take an active role in their learning by helping define expectations and selecting the level of work they will complete. This makes the relationship between effort, outcomes, and grades more explicit and gives students choices about how they demonstrate their learning.

Designing a contract grading system

Establish learning outcomes

Share with your students the learning outcomes for the course and individual units. Using the learning outcomes as an anchor, students can better understand the purpose of assessments and identify the requirements.

Determine grade tiers

With the students, break down the expectations of workload and requirements for each grade level. While establishing these tiers, use information about the course like the level, credit hours, and term length as a guide to ensure the workload is realistic.

Incorporate flexibility

Flexibility benefits everyone, so contracts should be created with that in mind to ensure everyone is aware of that flexibility—like revisions, feedback on drafts, or accepting late work—and students can even co-create opportunities for flexibility.

Reinforce expectations

Co-create rubrics and checklists with students to make criteria explicit and provide multiple ways to track progress. Involving students in this process creates opportunities to surface questions, clarify standards, and identify or develop supporting resources, examples, and guides. As students complete tasks, expectations for each grade tier and assignment component should be clearly defined and consistently applied, minimizing ambiguity about what counts as meeting the contract.

Models of contract grading

Revise until achievement

Revise-until-achievement contracts require students to revise and resubmit assignments until they’ve reached the level of achievement required for the grade they want to earn. This process requires regular, timely feedback from the instructor and is particularly effective for multi-stage or scaffolded projects.

Hybrid contract

The hybrid contract grading model starts with a baseline grade, and students are given the opportunity to use add-ons to increase their grade. Learning objectives are used to establish baseline expectations for the assignment. Generally, the baseline equates to B-tier work. Other features and components that can be added to the baseline increase the grade incrementally above the baseline. Add-ons might include consulting additional resources; submitting optional homework or notes; attending relevant events, talks, or workshops; and including annotations with a bibliography.

Labor-based

Labor-based contracts work well for an overall grade of the course or a large assignment. This contract establishes baseline expectations to demonstrate learning and then incorporates grade tiers based on additional labor invested. The labor taken into account might include things like attending sessions for peer review, tutoring, or one-on-one conferences; submitting additional drafts, reflections, or notes; or even engaging in class discussion.

Tips for moving to contract grading

Shifting to the contract grading system might be difficult at first. There is a learning curve for you, and your students may not initially be comfortable with this process. However, there are some ways to make the transition easier.

  • Create a baseline. When you first work with students on the contract, have a draft to work from as the basis of one of the grading tiers. You may need to edit this with your students, but it will provide an example and a starting point for the class to understand what might be important for the assignment.
  • Gather feedback. Once you start this process, check in with your students to determine what’s working and what isn’t. Each class may have different needs, so being prepared to adjust your approach to each class may be helpful.
  • Start small. Allow students to practice the process with smaller assignments at the beginning of the semester to help them learn. A larger semester-long or end-of-semester project can be broken into contracts for smaller components, too.
  • Schedule time. When co-creating grading contracts, we need to ensure that there is ample time for students to take part in the process. That means not rushing to finish the contract in a few minutes, giving students time to talk and think about the criteria, and asking questions.

The challenges of switching from your previous grading system to a contract grading system aren’t insignificant. There’s a lot of time and effort required initially, but once you begin using contract grading, the time spent on grading and expectations for assignments should be reduced. The co-creation process helps with student understanding and allows them focus on demonstrating their learning and effort, not just the points.

Learn more from CITL about grading practices

Learn more about contract grading and alternative approaches

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