Could You Teach Without Grades?


Listen to my interview with Starr Sackstein (transcript):


A few months ago, I started hearing about a new movement, where teachers were giving up traditional grading and finding new ways to measure student learning. This group, launched by education writer Mark Barnes, calls itself Teachers Throwing Out Grades (TTOG) and now has a Facebook group and a weekly Twitter Chat.

When I first became aware of the group, I admired their initiative, but the question that kept nagging at me was HOW? How do you do this, exactly? What does it actually look like? What do you write on the papers, in the gradebook, or do you have one at all? What do you tell parents? How do  you distinguish between the students who are working really hard and the ones who are just coasting?

Starr Sackstein

Starr Sackstein

My answers started coming from someone named Starr Sackstein (@mssackstein), a high school English and journalism teacher whose Education Week blog is called Work in Progress. In her writing, she has documented her journey this school year to abandon traditional grades through blog posts and a series of YouTube videos that feel almost like diary entries.

As I started getting a clearer picture of how the no-grades approach could actually work, I wanted to share it with you, so I invited Starr to talk with me about it. You can listen to our conversation in my newest podcast episode.


Hacking-Assessment

Learn more about going gradeless in Starr’s newest book, Hacking Assessment, 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School

You can find Starr’s work on her own blog and her Education Week blog, Work in Progress. Follow her on Twitter at @mssackstein.

Other Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

A Repair Kit for Grading: Fifteen Fixes for Broken Grades, by Ken O’Connor

Assessment 3.0: Throw Out Your Grade Book and Inspire Learning, by Mark Barnes

Role Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, by Mark Barnes

The 5-Minute Teacher: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom?, by Mark Barnes

Teaching the iStudent: A Quick Guide to Using Mobile Devices and Social Media in the K-12 Classroom, by Mark Barnes

[The links above are Amazon affiliate links. When you make a purchase from Amazon through these links, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you.]

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