Improving Grading Policies and Encouraging Growth Mindsets

Improving Grading Policies and Encouraging Growth Mindsets

During a Knowles Spring Cohort Meeting, Teaching Fellows Liv Craine and Albert David Valderrama connected over mutual dissatisfaction with their current grading practices. Desiring to make strides towards using more equitable grading practices, as discussed in Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman, the two decided it would be helpful to collaborate as critical friends.

Through data collection and collaborative inquiry, Liv and Albert David aimed to better understand how their current grading practices impacted their students. The pair met weekly for five weeks to reflect on Feldman’s book, discuss their ideas about grading systems and philosophies, and use protocols to look at classroom data related to their grading practices. They successfully requested funding from Knowles to cover the cost of purchasing the book and dinner for their virtual meetings. As a result of their collaboration, both will be implementing several changes to their respective grading systems and curricula, including portfolio grading, conference grading, and “un-grading” strategies.

Also, Liv and Albert David are reexamining how they approach the Next Generation Science Standards in their classrooms, thinking more deeply about what standards they are actually assessing. Further, they discussed ways to promote and foster progress in their students, embracing growth mindset ideals through their teaching and grading practices. As facilitators of a collaborative working group on equitable grading practices at the 2022 Knowles Summer Conference, the pair extended their work to include other teachers. They extended their work beyond the Knowles community as presenters at the 2022 California STEAM Symposium.