Seven Lessons on Ungrading
By Eli Williams
Last year, I served as a teaching apprentice in the University of Notre Dame’s Gender Studies program. Under the mentorship of Dr. Pam Butler, I learned how to teach Introduction to Gender Studies. The class was radically, beautifully different from any course I had taken in my undergraduate or graduate education. For one, Dr. Butler–influenced by the work of Susan Blum, Julia Kowalski, and Jesse Stommel–approached assessing student learning through ungrading. Ungrading for this course meant we looked at each student holistically, focused on learning, and did not assign A-F grades on any assignments. Though I knew very little about ungrading before my apprenticeship, I felt in my gut that grades did not promote genuine learning. It made education feel like a transaction. It felt subjective and unfair. This gut feeling evolved into an inclusive pedagogical philosophy I plan to stick with throughout my life as an educator.
Here, I will share seven lessons I learned about the philosophy and psychology of grades, and what getting rid of them allows students the freedom to do and become.
1. Focus on Learning
One of the most prominent, ground-breaking books on this topic, Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), was edited by Notre Dame professor Dr. Susan Blum. The volume includes a diverse collection of essays from educators about their ungrading philosophies and strategies. Throughout, the authors stress that grades do not promote genuine learning, and that there are alternatives. In reading the book, I was particularly struck by a table in Starr Sackstein’s chapter. It represents the paradigm shift that happens for students when grades are eliminated.
The very language we use changes when we eliminate grades. When school is not just about earning a grade, students have opportunities and freedom to learn in new, exciting, and authentic ways.
Ungrading also gives students room to fail and bounce back. For each essay a student would submit, we would assess their work into three categories: developing, proficient, or distinguished. If the essay was developing or proficient, the student had the opportunity to revise and resubmit (normally within a week’s time). I noticed this format to be liberating for many students. If they took a risk (whether that be in format or ideas) and it did not work out, they could keep working on it. If they struggled with the assignment, they had an opportunity to receive feedback and try again. Nothing they wrote was cemented in stone; they had the opportunity to continue improving. The opportunity to revise and resubmit gave students a chance to demonstrate their learning, proficiency/mastery, and growth as a scholar.
2. Conferences over Written Feedback
When a grade is assigned on a paper, many students look at the grade and barely glance over the written feedback offered by professors. This is a reality that many educators do not want to face. What should we do instead? In the Introduction to Gender Studies course, our teaching team (me, Dr. Butler, and my co-apprentice Sally Hansen) divided up the students, and met with each about their papers in 20-minute conferences via Zoom. We had a conversation about the work, both strengths and areas of improvement. I know co-teaching is not a luxury many professors have, and this approach may seem time-intensive. But in my experience grading in other teaching roles, I noticed this took about the same amount of time as traditional grading and written feedback. It also was much more energizing than marking up an essay in red ink. I had the pleasure of hearing from students about their experience writing, what in their life impacted this piece of work, and what their goals were to improve. These conferences align with ungrading philosophy in that we saw our students as full people, wanted them to learn, and viewed feedback as a conversation rather than a hierarchical process.
3. Small Groups Build Community
Ungrading, and the community that can flourish when relationship is valued over ranking, is liberatory and revolutionary. Sometimes courses are graded on a curve, and students are in competition with another. Ungrading opens an opportunity for collaboration. In the introductory course, we divided students into small groups. They stayed with each group for a few weeks and had three groups throughout the semester. Dr. Butler told me they adopted this practice during the COVID lockdown, and these micro communities were a lifeline for many students. Knowing that relationship promotes learning, the course maintained the small groups when we shifted back to in-person learning. Audre Lorde sums up this truth well in her writing: “Without community, there is no liberation.”
4. Self and Peer Assessments
In my first ungrading lesson learned, I mentioned how we as professors assessed students. More importantly, students assessed themselves. At certain points in the semester, we had students write in their weekly class journal about how they felt they were progressing in the course. We offered feedback on whether we felt their perceptions as a student aligned with ours as instructors. They were not required to respond immediately, but could if they desired to. Additionally, they did peer assessments at the end of each group rotation. Students are generally very self-aware when grades are eliminated. When they know they are not being evaluated for being perfect, they can be more honest with themselves and their professors about both their strengths and shortcomings in the course.
5. If You Must, Give a Grade at the End
The fact is most institutions require grades. Until this system is eradicated, we must work within it. At the end of the course, we had the students write a letter to the teaching team. In this letter, they give themselves a grade. We were able to agree or disagree and give them a grade we felt best reflected their holistic work in the course. While there were a couple students that I felt gave themselves too high a grade, most students gave a grade we agreed on. And no, not everyone gave themselves an A. In many instances, students undervalued their work. In those cases, we bumped up their grade. This system was imperfect, but generally worked out for most students.
6. The B Contract to Alleviate Anxiety
Grades are the norm and feel natural for most students. Therefore, eliminating grades can cause anxiety. In our syllabus, we have what we call the “B contract.” In short, if the students do the work, show up for themselves and one another, and participate in the classroom community in meaningful ways, they can earn a B. If they exceed these expectations, an A is possible. If they do not meet the B contract, they would know far before the end of the semester since we regularly check in. Many students commented that the B contract put them at ease. They were able to focus on learning and not worry about a grade.
7. Trust Students
Finally, ungrading taught me to trust my students. To me, grading feels like a way to be suspicious of students and search for wrongdoing. The students I came to know cared about the course and one another. They wanted to be their best selves. They wanted to learn and find joy in it. If we eliminate grades, we open the door to pleasure, liberation, and education.
Eli Williams is a PhD Candidate in the University of Notre Dame’s Sociology Department. She studies gender, sexuality, and social movements. Her dissertation focuses on chosen family for LGBTQ+ people. Currently, Eli serves as a graduate associate at the Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence.