From Degrading to De-Grading

12 Nov 14

Sara Dalan

Alfie Kohn

AlfieKohn degrading grades education grading assessment kohn alfie kohn

10 Sep 14

Matt Henchen

25 Apr 14

Laura Byno

arguments

17 Apr 14

Randy Rodgers

Helping students forget about grades is the single best piece of advice for creating a learning-oriented classroom.

15 Mar 14

Gabriella Lovasz

07 Mar 14

22 Feb 14

Denise Krebs

05 Feb 14

Holly Esterline

31 Jan 14

Mark Barnes

grades alfie kohn feedback

Another objection: it is sometimes argued that students must be given grades because colleges demand them. One might reply that “high schools have no responsibility to serve colleges by performing the sorting function for them” – particularly if that process undermines learning (Krumboltz and Yeh, 1996, p. 325). But in any case the premise of this argument is erroneous: traditional grades are not mandatory for admission to colleges and universities. (See Sidebar A.)
It is not widely known, for example, that at least 280 colleges and universities don’t require applicants to take either the SAT or the ACT. [By 2010, that number had grown to nearly 850, representing almost 40 percent of all accredited four-year institutions in the U.S.]
t I have heard of high schools approaching the admissions directors of nearby universities and saying, in effect, “We’d like to improve our school by getting rid of grades. Here’s why. Will you work with us to make sure our seniors aren’t penalized?” This strategy may well be successful for the simple reason that not many high schools are requesting this at present and the added inconvenience for admissions offices is likely to be negligible. Of course, if more and more high schools abandon traditional grades, then the universities will have no choice but to adapt. This is a change that high schools will have to initiate rather than waiting for colleges to signal their readiness.
Carolina Friends School, Durham, NC -- www.cfsnc.org

Eagle Rock School, Estes Park, CO -- www.eaglerockschool.org

Jefferson County Open School, Lakewood, CO -- http://bit.ly/2arSEL

Lehman Alternative Community School, Ithaca, NY -- www.icsd.k12.ny.us/legacy/acs/info.htm

Metropolitan Learning Center, Portland, OR -- www.mlc-k12.com

Poughkeepsie Day School, Poughkeepsie, NY -- www.poughkeepsieday.org

Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY -- www.saintanns.k12.ny.us

Waring School, Beverly, MA -- www.waringschool.org

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24 Jan 14

Katie Martin

alfie kohn assessment grading growth mindset

11 Jan 14

anita z boudreau

From Degrading to De-Grading Alfie Kohn

grading alfie kohn

17 Dec 13

matthewm1970

education assessment grading grades

16 Nov 13

Innovative Educator

assessment grading kohn AlfieKohn education grades

13 Nov 13

burleyson

05 Nov 13

James Calhoun

hans4932

Grades tend to reduce students’ interest in the learning itself.
Students of all ages who have been led to concentrate on getting a good grade are likely to pick the easiest possible assignment if given a choice
Grades distort the curriculum

1 more annotation...

15 Oct 13

grading grades assessment education AlfieKohn

Many teachers are loath to give up what is essentially an instrument of control.
suggests a willful refusal to examine one’s classroom practices and assumptions about teaching and learning
A friend of mine likes to say that people don’t resist change – they resist being changed.
The first step for an administrator, therefore, is to open up a conversation – to spend perhaps a full year just encouraging people to think and talk about the effects of (and alternatives to) traditional grades.
parental concerns
whether schools exist for the purpose of competitive credentialing or for the purpose of helping everyone to learn
the demonstrated harm of traditional grading on the quality of students’ learning and their interest in exploring ideas

5 more annotations...

06 Oct 13

David Ramos

The more the task required creative thinking, in fact, the worse the performance of students who knew they were going to be graded

education grades kohn grading cooperative cheating

Frankly, we ought to be worried for these teachers’ students. In my experience, the most impressive teachers are those who despise the whole process of giving grades. Their aversion, as it turns out, is supported by solid evidence that raises questions about the very idea of traditional grading.
Grades tend to reduce students’ interest in the learning itself
While it’s not impossible for a student to be concerned about getting high marks and also to like what he or she is doing, the practical reality is that these two ways of thinking generally pull in opposite directions
study after study has found that students -- from elementary school to graduate school, and across cultures – demonstrate less interest in learning as a result of being graded
The more pressure to get an A, the less inclination to truly challenge oneself
they are adapting to an environment where good grades, not intellectual exploration, are what count
One series of studies, for example, found that students given numerical grades were significantly less creative than those who received qualitative feedback but no grades
The more the task required creative thinking, in fact, the worse the performance of students who knew they were going to be graded
Providing students with comments in addition to a grade didn’t help: the highest achievement occurred only when comments were given instead of numerical scores
In short, what grades offer is spurious precision – a subjective rating masquerading as an objective evaluation.
Researchers have found that the more students are led to focus on getting good grades, the more likely they are to cheat, even if they themselves regard cheating as wrong
I’m getting tired of running a classroom in which everything we do revolves around grades. I’m tired of being suspicious when students give me compliments, wondering whether or not they are just trying to raise their grade. I’m tired of spending so much time and energy grading your papers, when there are probably a dozen more productive and enjoyable ways for all of us to handle the evaluation of papers. I’m tired of hearing you ask me ‘Does this count?’ And, heaven knows, I’m certainly tired of all those little arguments and disagreements we get into concerning marks which take so much fun out of the teaching and the learning. . .
The quality of students’ thinking has been shown to depend partly on the extent to which they are permitted to learn cooperatively
Perhaps because of this training, grades can succeed in getting students to show up on time, hand in their work, and otherwise do what they’re told
when the curriculum is engaging – for example, when it involves hands-on, interactive learning activities -- students who aren’t graded at all perform just as well as those who are graded (Moeller and Reschke, 1993).
Anyone who has heard the term “authentic assessment” knows that abolishing grades doesn’t mean eliminating the process of gathering information about student performance – and communicating that information to students and parents
These include narratives (written comments), portfolios (carefully chosen collections of students’ writings and projects that demonstrate their interests, achievement, and improvement over time), student-led parent-teacher conferences, exhibitions
learning more about schools that have arranged things so each teacher can spend more time with fewer students (e.g., Meier, 1995).
The real problem is that almost all kids (including yours) will come to focus on grades and, as a result, their learning will be hurt.
The short answer is that they should do everything within their power to make grades as invisible as possible for as long as possible

18 more annotations...

23 Sep 13

Cara Wolford

standardsbasedgrading grading

erhaps because of this training, grades can succeed in getting students to show up on time, hand in their work, and otherwise do what they’re told. Many teachers are loath to give up what is essentially an instrument of control. But even to the extent this instrument works (which is not always), we are obliged to reflect on whether mindless compliance is really our goal. The teacher who exclaims, “These kids would blow off my course in a minute if they weren’t getting a grade for it!” may be issuing a powerful indictment of his or her course. Who would be more reluctant to give up grades than a teacher who spends the period slapping transparencies on the overhead projector and lecturing endlessly at students about Romantic poets or genetic codes? Without bribes (A’s) and threats (F’s), students would have no reason to do such assignments. To maintain that this proves something is wrong with the kids – or that grades are simply “necessary” – suggests a willful refusal to examine one’s classroom practices and assumptions about teaching and learning.

05 Sep 13

Rosemary Miller

assessment assessments grades grading issues problems research

04 Jul 13

Daniel Skinner

One of the most well-researched findings in the field of motivational psychology is that the more people are rewarded for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward (Kohn, 1993).

28 Jun 13

Jennifer VerDuin

grading motivation adolescent

24 Jun 13

Lisa Cooley

grades

19 Feb 13

Suzanne Reyes

assessment grading education grades alfie kohn

François Jourde

From Degrading to De-Grading

feedback

15 Feb 13

Clint Walters

30 Dec 12

Elisabeth (PGelisa) Engum

assessment alfie kohn vurderingforlæring vurdering

28 Dec 12

Ammar Elhassan ElMerhbi

assessment grading grades AlfieKohn

14 Dec 12

Laura Davis

grading grades education

04 Nov 12

Judith LeFevre

Alfie Kohn

grading ed_reform special_ed teacher_education

09 Oct 12

Mat Brown

the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward (Kohn, 1993)
“grade orientation” and a “learning orientation
A “B” in English says nothing about what a student can do, what she understands, where she needs help. Moreover, the basis for that grade is as subjective as the result is uninformative.

1 more annotation...

26 Sep 12

Terry Waggoner

Article on the effects of grading

assessment grading education grades AlfieKohn alfie kohn kohn motivation extrinsic intrinsic

One of the most well-researched findings in the field of motivational psychology is that the more people are rewarded for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward (Kohn, 1993).
Grades tend to reduce students’ interest in the learning itself.
they are likely to come to view that task (or book or idea) as a chore.
Some research has explicitly demonstrated that a “grade orientation” and a “learning orientation” are inversely related (Beck et al., 1991; Milton et al., 1986)
Thus, anyone who wants to see students get hooked on words and numbers and ideas already has reason to look for other ways of assessing and describing their achievement.
tasks
Grades tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging
Grades tend to reduce the quality of students’ thinking.
the highest achievement occurred only when comments were given instead of numerical scores
Grades aren’t valid, reliable, or objective.
Grades distort the curriculum.
Grades waste a lot of time that could be spent on learning.
Grades encourage cheating.
Grades spoil teachers’ relationships with students.
Grades spoil students’ relationships with each other.
The most destructive form of grading by far is that which is done “on a curve,” such that the number of top grades is artificially limited: no matter how well all the students do, not all of them can get an A.
(Wise educators realize that it doesn’t matter how motivated students are; what matters is how students are motivated. It is the type of motivation that counts, not the amount.
oo many students have accepted that getting A’s is the point of going to school.
“If I can’t give a child a better reason for studying than a grade on a report card, I ought to lock my desk and go home and stay there.” So wrote Dorothy De Zouche, a Missouri teacher, in an article published in February . . . of 1945.
bolishing grades doesn’t mean eliminating the process of gathering information about student performance
and communicating that information to students and parents.
block scheduling, team teaching, interdisciplinary courses – and learning more about schools that have arranged things so each teacher can spend more time with fewer students

20 more annotations...

16 Aug 12

Amber Bridge

15 Aug 12

Cynthia Bechtel

Should you grade

Teaching

Geoff Chamberlain

EdArticle

14 Aug 12

Stacey Pippin

grading assessment education alfiekohn

Kate Carlson

Grade Inflation . . . and Other Distractions

13 Aug 12

Sigrid Murphy

grading assessment education grades

kbruck

the effects of grades on student achievement

degrading grading

Shon Holland

Mary Glackin

assessment grading education grades alfie kohn degrading

Gary Brown

grades motivation

You can tell a lot about a teacher’s values and personality just by asking how he or she feels about giving grades
In my experience, the most impressive teachers are those who despise the whole process of giving grades.
Grades tend to reduce students’ interest in the learning itself.
Some research has explicitly demonstrated that a “grade orientation” and a “learning orientation” are inversely related (Beck et al., 1991; Milton et al., 1986).
Grades tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging tasks.
Grades tend to reduce the quality of students’ thinking.
One series of studies, for example, found that students given numerical grades were significantly less creative than those who received qualitative feedback but no grades.
Grades aren’t valid, reliable, or objective.
any given assignment may well be given two different grades by two equally qualified teachers.
Grades distort the curriculum.
Grades waste a lot of time that could be spent on learning.
Grades encourage cheating.
Grades spoil teachers’ relationships with students.
Grades spoil students’ relationships with each other.
The competition that turns schooling into a quest for triumph and ruptures relationships among students doesn’t just happen within classrooms, of course. The same effect is witnessed at a schoolwide level when kids are not just rated but ranked, sending the message that the point isn’t to learn, or even to perform well, but to defeat others.
It is also striking how many educators never get beyond relatively insignificant questions, such as how many tests to give, or how often to send home grade reports, or what grade should be given for a specified level of achievement (e.g., what constitutes “B” work), or what number corresponds to what letter.
Let’s consider the most frequently heard responses to the above arguments – which is to say, the most common objections to getting rid of grades.
First, it is said that students expect to receive grades and even seem addicted to them. This is often true;
Perhaps because of this training, grades can succeed in getting students to show up on time, hand in their work, and otherwise do what they’re told.
Another objection: it is sometimes argued that students must be given grades because colleges demand them. One might reply that “high schools have no responsibility to serve colleges by performing the sorting function for them”
people don’t resist change – they resist being changed.
The actual process of “de-grading” can be done in stages.
eliminating only the most pernicious practices, such as grading on a curve or ranking students
I knew that my refusal to rate their learning might only cause some students to worry about their marks all the more, or to create suspense about what would appear on their final grade reports, which of course would defeat the whole purpose. So I said that anyone who absolutely had to know what grade a given paper would get could come see me and we would figure it out together.
But I have seen teachers who were more willing to give up control, more committed to helping students participate in assessment and turn that into part of the learning.

23 more annotations...

Kris Nicholson

grading assessment grades degrading

Bonnie Garcia

randy vanarsdale

Elaine Tucker

Questions the effectiveness of grading procedures.

AlfieKohn kohn assessment grading education

Jules Kahn

Grading Reform

Diane White-Stengel

Gregory Odell

assessment grading education grades alfie kohn AlfieKohn degrading kohn

lburger07

Excellent research based article on eliminating grades

tthomasuscu

PD Assessment

Darren Gwin

This article takes an interesting approach on the effects of grades.

assessment grading kohn grades alfie kohn

Dino Vandenheede

degrading education

Andrew Kirkwood

sue moron-garcia

critique of grading

Carl Davis

assessment grading kohn grades alfie kohn

Jeremy Inscho

"Thus, anyone who wan"

Ben Grey

degrading AlfieKohn assessment grading education grades

12 Jul 12

Stephen Wilkinson

assessment feedback

22 Jun 12

Amy M

A controversial view on not using grades.

17 Jun 12

education grades revolution philosophy

04 Jun 12

Jac Calder

LEC learning education assessment grading

22 May 12

soberle

alfie_kohn assessment

12 Apr 12

Steve J. Moore

research assessment grading grades blog learning

You can tell a lot about a teacher’s values and personality just by asking how he or she feels about giving grades. Some defend the practice, claiming that grades are necessary to “motivate” students.
the most impressive teachers are those who despise the whole process of giving grades. Their aversion, as it turns out, is supported by solid evidence that raises questions about the very idea of traditional grading.
1. Grades tend to reduce students’ interest in the learning itself
they are likely to come to view that task (or book or idea) as a chore.
these two ways of thinking generally pull in opposite directions
2. Grades tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging tasks
Students of all ages who have been led to concentrate on getting a good grade are likely to pick the easiest possible assignment if given a choice
The more pressure to get an A, the less inclination to truly challenge oneself.
3. Grades tend to reduce the quality of students’ thinking.
students who tended to think about current events in terms of what they’d need to know for a grade were less knowledgeable than their peers
4. Grades aren’t valid, reliable, or objective.
what grades offer is spurious precision – a subjective rating masquerading as an objective evaluation
5. Grades distort the curriculum.
6. Grades waste a lot of time that could be spent on learning
7. Grades encourage cheating
9. Grades spoil students’ relationships with each other.
"It is not a symbol of rigor to have grades fall into a 'normal' distribution; rather, it is a symbol of failure -- failure to teach well, failure to test well, and failure to have any influence at all on the intellectual lives of students” (Milton et al., 1986, p. 225).
The competition that turns schooling into a quest for triumph and ruptures relationships among students doesn’t just happen within classrooms, of course.
I’ve taught high school students who reacted to the absence of grades with what I can only describe as existential vertigo.
high schools point the finger at colleges
It’s more an indictment of what has happened to them in the past than an argument to keep doing it in the future
Many teachers are loath to give up what is essentially an instrument of control. But even to the extent this instrument works (which is not always), we are obliged to reflect on whether mindless compliance is really our goal.
bribes (A’s) and threats (F’s)
“If I can’t give a child a better reason for studying than a grade on a report card, I ought to lock my desk and go home and stay there.” So wrote Dorothy De Zouche, a Missouri teacher, in an article published in February . . . of 1945.
traditional grades are not mandatory for admission to colleges and universities.
people don’t resist change – they resist being changed.
The first step for an administrator, therefore, is to open up a conversation – to spend perhaps a full year just encouraging people to think and talk about the effects of (and alternatives to) traditional grades.
Anyone who has heard the term “authentic assessment” knows that abolishing grades doesn’t mean eliminating the process of gathering information about student performance – and communicating that information to students and parents
portfolios
narratives
projects
conferences
exhibitions
it’s harder for a teacher to do these kinds of assessments if he or she has 150 or more students and sees each of them for 45-55 minutes a day. But that’s not an argument for continuing to use traditional grades; it’s an argument for challenging these archaic remnants of a factory-oriented approach to instruction,
It’s an argument for looking into block scheduling, team teaching, interdisciplinary courses
whether schools exist for the purpose of competitive credentialing or for the purpose of helping everyone to learn
traditional grading undermines excellence
they should do everything within their power to make grades as invisible as possible for as long as possible.
Helping students forget about grades is the single best piece of advice for creating a learning-oriented classroom.
as the days went by, fewer and fewer students felt the need to ask me about grades
get students involved in devising the criteria for excellence (what makes a math solution elegant, an experiment well-designed, an essay persuasive, a story compelling) as well as deciding how well their projects met those criteria.
give up control
helping students participate in assessment and turn that into part of the learning
powerful alternatives to letter grades
plenty of admissions officers enjoy the convenience of class ranking, apparently because they have confused being better than one’s peers with being good at something; they’re looking for winners rather than learners.

43 more annotations...

19 Mar 12

jackkeenan

17 Mar 12

Brian C. Smith

#ceesa2012 The grade might be useful to the teacher but it's destructive for developing learner capacity: Alfie Kohn: http://t.co/8aDIZwq9

ceesa2012 #favtweets

04 Mar 12

Marcie Lewis

assessment grading alfie kohn

22 Feb 12

Paul Kasky

assessment grading grades alfie kohn kohn AlfieKohn degrading education letter letter grades

17 Feb 12

Tia Henriksen

1. Grades tend to reduce students’ interest in the learning itself.
2. Grades tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging tasks.
3. Grades tend to reduce the quality of students’ thinking.
4. Grades aren’t valid, reliable, or objective.
5. Grades distort the curriculum.
6. Grades waste a lot of time that could be spent on learning.
. Grades encourage cheating.
8. Grades spoil teachers’ relationships with students.
9. Grades spoil students’ relationships with each other.

7 more annotations...

18 Jan 12

Beth Knittle

degrading AlfieKohn assessment grading education alfie kohn grades kohn

16 Jan 12

Michelle Fassler

school

16 Dec 11

David Williams

This is pretty interesting. I want our school to get away from grades, but I have questions about how we then demonstrate their capabilities to colleges? Also, valedictorians get free rides to in-state institutions. So, how does that work?

grades alfie kohn assessment

13 Dec 11

Soledad Romero

Three Main Effects of Grading
1. Grades tend to reduce students’ interest in the learning itself.
ome research has explicitly demonstrated that a “grade orientation” and a “learning orientation” are inversely related (Beck et al., 1991; Milton et al., 1986).
less interest in learning as a result of being graded (Benware and Deci, 1984; Butler, 1987; Butler and Nisan, 1986; Grolnick and Ryan, 1987; Harter and Guzman, 1986; Hughes et al., 1985; Kage, 1991; Salili et al., 1976).
Grades tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging tasks.
easiest possible assignment if given a choice (Harter, 1978; Harter and Guzman, 1986; Kage, 1991; Milton et al., 1986).
Grades tend to reduce the quality of students’ thinking.
the highest achievement occurred only when comments were given instead of numerical scores
A brand-new study discovered that students who tended to think about current events in terms of what they’d need to know for a grade were less knowledgeable than their peers, even after taking other variables into account (Anderman and Johnston, 1998).
More Reasons to Just Say No to Grades
Grades aren’t valid, reliable, or objective.
Grades distort the curriculum.
Grades waste a lot of time that could be spent on learning.
Grades encourage cheating.
Grades spoil teachers’ relationships with students.
Grades spoil students’ relationships with each other
Grade Inflation . . . and Other Distractions
yet we continue to reduce students to letters or numbers on a regular basis.
Oddly, when educators are shown that it doesn’t have to be this way, some react with suspicion instead of relief. They want to know why you’re making trouble, or they assert that you’re exaggerating the negative effects of grades (it’s really not so bad – cough, cough), or they dismiss proven alternatives to grading on the grounds that our school could never do what others schools have done.
The proper occasion for outrage is not that too many students are getting A’s, but that too many students have accepted that getting A’s is the point of going to school.
A friend of mine likes to say that people don’t resist change – they resist being changed.
Although grades, per se, may continue for a while, at least the message will be sent from the beginning that all students can do well, and that the point is to succeed rather than to beat others.
Anyone who has heard the term “authentic assessment” knows that abolishing grades doesn’t mean eliminating the process of gathering information about student performance – and communicating that information to students and parents. Rather, abolishing grades opens up possibilities that are far more meaningful and constructive. These include narratives (written comments), portfolios (carefully chosen collections of students’ writings and projects that demonstrate their interests, achievement, and improvement over time), student-led parent-teacher conferences, exhibitions and other opportunities for students to show what they can do.
Of course, it’s harder for a teacher to do these kinds of assessments if he or she has 150 or more students and sees each of them for 45-55 minutes a day. But that’s not an argument for continuing to use traditional grades; it’s an argument for challenging these archaic remnants of a factory-oriented approach to instruction, structural aspects of high schools that are bad news for reasons that go well beyond the issue of assessment. It’s an argument for looking into block scheduling, team teaching, interdisciplinary courses – and learning more about schools that have arranged things so each teacher can spend more time with fewer students (e.g., Meier, 1995).
Above all, we need to make sure that objections and concerns about the details don’t obscure the main message, which is the demonstrated harm of traditional grading on the quality of students’ learning and their interest in exploring ideas.

23 more annotations...

21 Nov 11

Celeste Stephenson

grading no_grades toprint

31 Oct 11

Katie Douglas

education

06 Oct 11

Jennifer Ewing

30 Aug 11

Richard Bartolowits

alfie kohn degrading grading education assessment grades AlfieKohn kohn

18 Jul 11

Chris Kervina

Alfie Kohn on grading purpose: are grades "competitive credentialing" or are grades learning centered? http://dft.ba/-grd

16 Jul 11

Patti Grayson

08 Jul 11

Alison Harper

Alfie Kohn's take on grading is worth the read-- make you really evaluate your own beliefs http://t.co/taZk79C

07 Jul 11

Peter Cohen