Many people inside and outside of academia seem preoccupied with the specter of “grade inflation.” But, what if instead of grade inflation (or its scary cousin, grade compression), the problem is grades themselves? That’s the premise behind the book Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), edited by Susan D. Blum with a foreward by Alfie Kohn. In its chapters, the book explores what ungrading is, why it is important for student learning, and how it can be done in varied disciplines.
“We would be remiss if we just kept doing the same thing because it is how we have always done it” (Sackstein, in Ungrading, p. 81).
What’s wrong with grades?
How often do educators lament that students don’t read their feedback and just flip to see their grade? Grades, by nature, shift the focus away from feedback, ultimately hindering learning and growth. Student fixation on achieving a certain grade or number of points leads to prioritization of product rather than process, which can discourage risk-taking and experimentation—mistakes and failure become things to avoid rather than things to learn and grow from. Grades also reduce complex and ongoing learning experiences into simplistic letter representations, which obfuscates the nuances of progress and development in learning. By emphasizing grades, our education systems deemphasize genuine intellectual growth, resilience, and adaptability.
What exactly is “ungrading”?
Ungrading emphasizes a critical reevaluation of traditional grading systems in education, contending that the issue lies not with “grade inflation” or “grade compression,” but in the very concept of grades themselves, which inherently prioritize ranking over genuine learning. The strategy of swapping grades for descriptive labels (e.g., “proficient,” “needs improvement,” etc.) merely disguises the inherent problems of grading. Grades ultimately have inconsistent meanings—what counts and what doesn’t, how much it counts, participation, attendance, grading on a curve, final mastery versus effort—and these inconsistencies reveal grades to be subjective and even arbitrary.
Ungrading emerges as a radical solution that advocates eliminating grades entirely or at least empowering students to assess themselves and enter a dialogue about performance with their educator. When a final course grade is still required (as it is for courses at NIU), you could either negotiate S/U grades with your department, if appropriate, or for classes that require A-F grades, you can have students propose their own final grade for the class and meet with you one-on-one to discuss and come to an agreement on their final course grade.
What are the benefits?
Ungrading offers numerous benefits in its departure from traditional grading. By eliminating the control-based function of grades, ungrading redirects students’ focus toward meaningful feedback and fosters a culture of learning and growth. It also allows faculty to provide more personalized guidance and support to students and to engage with students in genuine dialogue about learning. Ungrading can also promote a more collaborative learning environment in which students take ownership of their learning and engage in both reflection and self-assessment. In addition, ungrading transforms faculty’s role from that of evaluator or judge to that of learning facilitator, which can make the process of reading and providing feedback on student work more fulfilling and enjoyable, as compared to grading or judging student work.
In addition, ungrading may allow for more creative work that might not be easily assessed with a standard rubric. It also promotes (and necessitates) more communication between faculty and students as feedback-rich conversations, which foster deeper understanding and collaboration, replace the traditional one-way dissemination of grades. Ungrading’s prioritization of feedback and reflection over points and grades may also help students form more effective learning habits and encourage them to focus on improvement rather than outcomes. Moreover, the shift from being grade-focused to learning-focused could reduce stress for students and promote a more positive and fulfilling learning experience. Ultimately, ungrading helps minimize the detrimental effects of grading, but it also promotes a more student-centric approach to learning.
What are the challenges?
One challenge you may encounter is from students accustomed to traditional grading systems who may struggle to understand and adjust to the approach of ungrading. To overcome this particular challenge, you need to communicate clearly with students about the purpose of ungrading, its benefits, and the support you will provide throughout the process.
An additional challenge you may encounter is institutional policies and expectations regarding grading, particularly if there is limited flexibility or support for alternative assessment. You’ll need to plan your approach strategically and consider carefully how you will balance the rules of the institution with your students’ needs for feedback and learning growth.
Speaking of feedback, another challenge could be providing the level of feedback that students need for it to be meaningful and help them get the most out of their learning experience. This may be particularly challenging in large classes or when balancing the needs of students with diverse abilities.
The student-centered nature of ungrading may also pose a challenge if you have trouble giving up control in your classes. It may be difficult to relinquish control, follow students’ needs, and trust students, so there will be a learning curve for you as well. Despite the challenges, however, the potential benefits of ungrading—promoting deeper learning, student agency—may make it a worthwhile endeavor for you to explore.
What if my department or institution won’t let me “ungrade”?
If your department or institution is resistant to ungrading, there are still ways you can adapt your assessment approaches without violating established rules or protocols.
One change you could make is integrating more formative assessment into your teaching practice. These assessments could focus on providing feedback during the learning process rather than assigning grades at the end. Emphasizing feedback-rich activities (e.g., scaffolded assignments, reflective journals, peer review, self-assessment, etc.) prioritizes growth and learning without directly challenging the grading system. You could also consider adding more student choice and autonomy into assignments, for example letting students select topics or project formats that resonate with their strengths, interests, and courses of study.
Additionally, you could advocate for incremental changes within your department or institution by doing some research on similar programs or disciplines implementing ungrading practices successfully at other institutions and then piloting ungrading in a specific course or collaborating with colleagues to explore alternative, meaningful assessment strategies. Navigating institutional or departmental constraints can prove challenging for implementing any kind of progressive approach. By looking for creative and collaborative ways to promote incremental changes and persisting in those efforts, you can adapt your teaching practice to better support student learning and growth.
Where can I learn more?
Workshop Recording
E-book (via NIU Libraries)
- Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) (edited by Susan D. Blum)
Articles and Other Web Sources
- The Case Against Grades (Alfie Kohn)
- How to Set Up Mastery-Based Grading in Your Classroom (Kareem Farah, Cult of Pedagogy)
- Mastery learning in a bachelor’s of nursing program: the Roseman University of Health Sciences experience (Lipsky et al., BMC Nursing)
- Pass-fail is here to stay in medical schools. And that’s a good thing. (Francis Deng, MD, and Austin Wesevich, KevinMD)
- Ungrading: an FAQ (Jesse Stommel)
- Ungrading: Prototype III (Envisioned Large Lecture Implementation in General Chemistry I) (Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh, Reflective Teaching Revolution)
