The Wizard of OT

OT education with courage, heart, and brains.

Ungrading

Heather Kuhaneck

8-14-24

Ungrading: What Is It?

Ungrading is

  • an approach whereby Instead of assigning letter grades or numerical scores, an instructor instead focuses on qualitative feedback, self-assessment, and dialogue between instructors and students to assess learning. The goal is to create a more holistic and student-centered approach to learning, one that emphasizes growth, understanding, and intrinsic motivation.
  • a form of alternative grading practices or what is sometimes called ‘grading for growth’.  In each of these, the primary purpose is to help students learn and improve their skills, rather than to create a score to compare or rank student performance. If ungrading occurs in an environment where a final letter grade is required, the instructor provides a grade at the end of the course that is determined jointly with the student. Students may be asked to self-assign a final grade, using specific questions or criteria.
  • an umbrella term that covers a range of practices.  All de-emphasize grades and instead provide students with frequent feedback combined with student-instructor dialogue, student self-evaluation, and peer feedback. Some might eliminate grades entirely, while others delay grading until the end of the course. An important emphasis is on creating a learning environment where students take risks, feel they can make mistakes, and learn from them.
  • is part of a broader movement to address equity in education. Ungrading not only seeks to improve learning but also to create a fairer, more just educational environment by removing or minimizing practices that reinforce inequities.

A History of Grading: How Did We Get Here?

Our current grading system (letters, scores, and percentages) is a relatively recent invention. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that grades became a standardized method for assessing student performance in the United States. Before that, assessments were often more narrative in nature, focusing on descriptive feedback rather than numerical scores. The shift towards grading began with the rise of industrialization and the need for a more efficient, scalable way to sort and rank students, particularly as public education expanded.

By the early 20th century, letter grades and percentages had become the norm. This system was designed to quantify student performance, ostensibly to make comparisons easier and more objective. However, as grading practices spread, so too did criticisms of their effectiveness and fairness. Over time, educators began to question whether grades truly reflected learning or if they were simply reinforcing a compliance-based model of education.

Today, the debate continues, with many arguing that the traditional grading system is deeply flawed and even harmful to learning. The competitive nature of grades can stifle creativity, promote surface-level learning, and encourage cheating. Traditional grading systems have often perpetuated inequities, and can reflect systemic biases, such as penalizing students for factors unrelated to their learning, like late work or behavior, which can disproportionately affect students from varied backgrounds.

Ungrading: Why Do It?

Jesse Stommel, a strong proponent of ungrading uses this quote in his blog in reference to traditional grading practices:  “I can’t think of a more meaningless, superficial, cynical way to evaluate learning.” ~ Cathy N. Davidson

There are several compelling reasons to consider ungrading. First and foremost, ungrading shifts the focus from extrinsic motivators, like grades, to intrinsic ones, such as curiosity, creativity, and a genuine desire to learn. Research has shown that grades can diminish students’ interest in learning, reduce the quality of their thinking, and lead to a preference for easier tasks. By removing grades, or at least minimizing their importance, educators can encourage deeper engagement and foster a love of learning.

Ungrading can also help address issues of equity in education. Traditional grading often reflects and reinforces existing social inequalities. Factors like access to resources, prior educational experiences, and even biases in grading can unfairly impact students from underrepresented groups. Ungrading offers a way to mitigate these issues by focusing on each student’s individual progress and learning journey rather than comparing them to a standardized benchmark or ranking their performance in relation to each other. By moving away from grades or modifying grading practices, educators can help level the playing field, making education more inclusive and equitable. Ungrading isn’t just about fostering intrinsic motivation—it’s also a crucial step towards social justice in education.

Finally, ungrading aligns with contemporary educational goals that emphasize critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration—skills that are often undervalued in traditional grading systems. By encouraging self-reflection and peer feedback, ungrading helps students develop these essential skills in a more meaningful way.

Ungrading: How to Do It

Jesse Stommel uses this method which has evolved over the many years he has been using ungrading.

“Currently, I have students write self-reflections 2 – 3 times throughout the term. The first of these is usually more directed (with specific questions) than the last (which opens into something more like an essay). My goal is to help students develop their ability to do this kind of metacognitive work. Self-evaluation and metacognition are not easy, even for me, so I give students space to figure out how to do this work as they go…..What students write to me in self-reflections and self-evaluations is profoundly different from the kinds of interactions we would have in a purely transactional system. Their self-evaluations (which I sometimes call “process letters”), and my responses to them, become a space of dialogue, not just about the course, but about their learning and about how learning happens. Not every interaction rises to that level but many do. What happens with almost every single student is that any assumption I might make about them is squashed by what they write about themselves and their work. My view of students as complex and deeply committed to their education is fueled by the thousands of self-reflection letters I’ve read throughout my career.”

Others explain ungrading in the syllabus as a contract between the student and faculty member, with baseline requirements outlined for the contract across the semester that would lead to a specific end of course grade. At the end of the semester, students assign themselves a grade for their work based on this contract, in consultation with the instructor.

Beginning to use ungrading may feel scary or impossible.  You might believe that students will all give themselves “A” that you don’t feel they earned.  Again, Jesse Stommel, who has been doing this for more than 20 years provides an alternative view. “Students in my classes give themselves a grade at the end of the term. I say, “I reserve the right to change grades as appropriate,” but over 20 years, I’ve seen students grade themselves incredibly fairly. The students in my courses get As, Bs, Cs, and even Fs.”  He also talks extensively about the level of trust that develops between faculty and students in this type of process.

If you are not convinced, then implementing ungrading in your classroom doesn’t require an all-or-nothing approach. Many individual professors who are now posting about their ungrading practices online, express their initial hesitation or fear, or their gradual conversion to this method.

There are various strategies you can adopt depending on your teaching style, course objectives, and student needs. Here are some practical steps to consider:

  1. Start with Reflection: Engage students in self-assessment. Ask them to reflect on their learning process, set personal goals, and evaluate their own progress. This not only promotes metacognition but also helps students take ownership of their learning.
  2. Provide Narrative Feedback: Instead of giving grades on specific individual assignments, offer detailed feedback on student work. Highlight strengths, suggest areas for improvement, and ask questions that provoke further thinking. This approach helps students understand the quality of their work and how they can grow.  Allow revisions with feedback until the work reaches a level that you would typically consider B or above. If eliminating grades entirely feels daunting, consider delaying them. Allow students to submit work for feedback first, giving them the chance to revise and improve before a final grade is assigned. This approach encourages a growth mindset and reduces the pressure to get it “right” on the first tr .
  3. Incorporate Peer Review: Peer feedback can be a powerful tool in an ungraded classroom. Students can learn from each other, gain new perspectives, and develop critical thinking skills. Peer review also encourages a collaborative learning environment.
  4. Foster a Growth Mindset: Cultivate an environment where mistakes are seen as opportunities for learning rather than failures. Discuss the concept of a growth mindset with your students, and model it in your feedback and interactions. This mindset shift is crucial for the success of an ungrading approach.
  5. Adopt Practices Focusing on Mastery:  Make sure that any criteria for performance on work focuses on what is really important for that task. For example, rather than penalizing students for late submissions or lack of APA formatting on non-scholarly assignments, focus feedback and learning on what matters, critical thinking, clinical reasoning, or use of theory for example.

Ungrading isn’t about abandoning accountability or rigor. Instead, it’s about redefining how we measure success in education. By focusing on learning rather than grades, we can create more equitable, engaging, and effective educational experiences for all students.

Using Ungrading in Occupational Therapy

While we must adhere to ACOTE standards and remain mindful of student pass rates on the NBCOT exam, there is still room to integrate ungrading practices into our curriculum. A strategic starting point might be courses centered on professional behaviors, professional development, or career preparation. Every curriculum is unique, but many programs include courses that focus on developing professional identity or planning for future continuing competency. These courses are particularly well-suited for experimenting with ungrading practices, perhaps through the completion of a student portfolio that documents student’s learning and progress toward their professionalism goals.

Coming soon:  Over the next few months, in addition to other topics, blog posts will cover each of the “ungrading” methods individually and will discuss the grading for growth movement of alternative grading with the 4 pillars.  Some of the approaches we will cover include specifications grading, contract grading, labor grading, standards-based grading, and more.  Be sure to subscribe!

References

Additional resources for your learning

Susan Blum- Ungrading https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JJHHCiSgVs

Ungrading resources https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yKqmxvpRZyVO5oqRQ5ox4ysotRf0PWTl2-qsatgr68Y/edit#heading=h.48xubhljoqze

Dr. Dosmar  has created an entire online course (free through Course Hero) to guide faculty through the process of ungrading (see https://facultyclub.coursehero.com/assessment/ungrading/ ).  This site offers a sample syllabus and criteria for one form of ungrading practices.

Jesse Stommel provides his syllabi online as well https://www.jessestommel.courses/syllabus-2023/

Failing our future: https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/53857/failing-our-future

Leave a comment