Today I watched the 2022 Keynote Speaker for the Alternative Assessment Institute, David Buck. Their title was “Ungrading: A Road to Equity.” They mentioned that “ungrading is a pedagogical mindset (philosophy) that de-centers the control-based function of grades to create space for learning that’s divorced from stress. The learning process is centered, students display agency, chart internal/external growth, & take risks in their learning.” Buck mentioned that the issue with traditional grades is that they are “transactional & inequitable, stressful & anxiety-inducing, and arbitrary & inaccurate.” They spoke about meritocracy and stress surrounding grade distribution and assignment. Buck cited Alfie Kohn and said that with grades students think less critically about assignments. Buck shared data from studies that people are born with intrinsic motivation and with each year of schooling attitudes change… and motivation becomes based on deadlines. For what works better, Buck described “narrative evaluations and actionable feedback to promote trust between instructors and students and cooperation amongst students.” Buck listed practices such as meta-cognition and self-assessment to reflect on the process and practice formative assessment. They introduced me to mastering-based learning since it is an ongoing process and the learning targets are fixed and time is the variable. Labor-based grading contracts, Buck explained, that “the amount of labor is tied to the final letter grades” and “we honor the labor.” Buck mentioned they use labor journals and labor support groups. I had not heard about this before! Buck explained that this uses compassion. The labor-reflex model merges several approaches and includes trust, agency, reflection, positive attention, equity, and community. Buck uses “best by due dates” and “a ton of reflection.” Buck wants to avoid harm and is careful about asking students what they can share in their reflections. I had not considered this and will think about how to edit prompts to include this. Buck shared student quotes about how they don’t miss the stress associated with performance anxiety and grades. Buck shared that they do have challenges yet know ungrading “works” because they ask their students. Buck shared tips to start ungrading:
- Incorporating self-assessment after assignments.
- Collaboratively composing learning targets with students.
- Using minimal grades instead of arbitrary point-based assignments.
- Emphasize formative practice over summative assessment.
- Employ ungrading for smaller unit/module or a few low-stakes assignments.
Buck mentioned that checking in with students often and early is key to not letting assignments pile up. I also appreciated how Buck spoke about learning how to improve the process with students and that students are the beneficiaries!
