Going Gradeless, Grades 6-12 : Shifting the Focus to Student Learning

Reform assessment, reduce stress, and strengthen learning  

Great things happen when students are able to focus on their learning instead of their scores. However, assessment reform, including standards-based grading, remains a hotly debated issue in education. Going Gradeless shows that it is possible to teach and assess without the stress of traditional grading practices. 

Sharing their successful shifts to alternate assessment and their perspectives as experienced classroom teachers, the authors show you how to remove the negative impacts of grades while still maintaining a high level of accountability. Readers will find concrete examples of how these approaches can be developed and applied, plus:

• Sample assessments and rubrics
• Student work samples from all grade levels
• An accountability checklist           
• A review of collected data

It is possible to go gradeless! Focusing less on letter grades allows students to interact with the content more deeply, develop better relationships with their teachers and peers, and gain confidence in the classroom, school, and beyond. 

Elise Burns has been a science teacher for 30 years, teaching physics, chemistry, biology, math, and earth science. Her work is characterized by trying new technology and approaches, in order to provide the best possible learning experience for kids. She presented at conferences annually at either NSTA, ASCD, or NJSTA, with workshops on rubric design, inquiry, standards-based learning, project-based learning, writing CERs, and assessment design, amongst others.

David Frangiosa has spent 14 years as a high school science teacher, teaching biology, chemistry, physics and a number of science electives. Over that time, he has been a driving force in many initiatives across multiple districts. He developed, wrote curriculum for and taught two courses for a medical academy. As part of this initiative, high school students were placed in allied health internships at a local hospital. This program piloted a paperless classroom that led to a district-wide one-to-one program. Shortly after moving on to Pascack Valley Regional High School District, he began conducting action research on grade reform. As a result of this work, he was asked to be on a county-wide Growth Learning Assessment and Mindset (GLAM) committee. In addition to presenting these ideas with the district and at the GLAM meetings, he has presented at ECET2Metro, the New Jersey Science Teachers Convention, and many online workshops.