Thanks for reading, Sara. I am glad you liked the post.

They worked with the school system and were able to have lots of speech & occupational therapies (which he still attends) and aides he loved (which he still is in contact with). The students that he went to class with all took great care of him. There just came a point when he realized he was different than the other students and he spiraled. Once his grades dropped, he really spiraled. The summer school was the straw, and would not go to school without a meltdown. It wasn’t an easy decision for my sister. I’m glad to see G more excited about going back. I’ve passed the info on to my sister. Thanks, John.

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G drops the best bombs. When we first got the diagnosis we read and watched lots of Temple. Reading her books really helped us have a better understanding of ASD and prepared us for greater patience. “The Reason I Jump” is another good one we read, especially as the voice comes from a non-verbal teenager with severe ASD. All of these great examples are constant reminders that I don’t have the only perspective in the room. Thanks, Robin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reason_I_Jump

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I love this post. The section on the HDI measurement was rather eye opening in itself. I do wonder what finer grain comparisons that could be done to determine assessment in educations. My intuition leds me to think there are some cultural values at play which influence the educational systems discussed. And taking a step back, the ADHD section was also interesting because ADHD is a rather hard thing to diagnose from the start and the increase isn’t comforting. After a few reputable readings on ADHD there also seems to be broad implications for ‘slow’ students. My concern is the possible major impacts for continual development for such students as they grow.

Again, wonderful post that gave some time to reflect on two interesting perspectives on assessment for many areas.

Tim,

Thanks for your comment. I did take the time to read it all

That’s a very pragmatic approach to this kind of change. Instead of simply getting rid of grades we bring something along side grades that is more descriptive. This could give some validity to the reason why an “A” is an “A” and a “B” is a “B” beyond there being a mathematical average of scores for assignments arranged into categories. What could be really interesting is if all teachers assessed the transferable skills, as well as content-specific knowledge. That could help keep the familiar comfort of a grade while also adding some descriptive data for the purpose of helping students grow into better learners.

Robin,

Thanks for your comment. You bring up a good point that I didn’t really address in my post but I do think needs to be part of the conversation (at some point you risk turning a blog post into a book chapter). I don’t think we will, or should, ever get completely away from grades. Evaluation and assessment need to happen. My hope is that we can make the grade a less important part of education in comparison to the learning process that we want students to master.

To your point, I’d argue that elementary school is absolutely the right place to start this change. My vision would be that instead of giving a single, summative grade for a topic (such as math, English, history, science, etc) that student progress in skills is assessed instead. Research, communication, critical thinking, creativity, and so on can be assessed across content areas through practical applications of learning. For me as a learner and a parent, that information would be much more valuable than an “A” in math.

Thanks for the post, Maha. Out of curiosity, what elements of play would you incorporate into your classroom to facilitate active learning? I think it’s an interesting concept to does so — as I think elements of game design that keep players interested could help give a possible avenue for a teaching pedagogy.

Hi Aislinn, thanks for your comment! I’ll be the first to admit that my viewpoint comes from the lens of an engineer, and I appreciate hearing the thoughts of people who aren’t in the same field. I do wonder, if everything were left to a project, if there were a way to ensure that students were maintaining the ethical and professional standards of integrity that we set for them. I’m sure we’ve all had experiences where we’ve had a class with a take-home test, and those can often be to the detriment of those who are unwilling to cheat. I’m thinking of a geology class that I took in undergrad where all the assessments were online and out of class; some people, in that situation will google the answers and ace the test while others will complete it honestly and risk getting a lower grade than their peers. Having an in-class exam levels the playing field in that respect. As instructors, we can give students all the resources they’re allowed to use (e.g., design manuals, formula sheets, etc.) and ensure that they’re not using any unauthorized material.

I like the idea of having a final project and presentation instead of a final exam, and am incorporating that into the syllabus for the assignment in class! I’m thinking that perhaps the most beneficial method would be to have a midterm exam that assesses basic understanding and structuring the second half of the semester to cover material that would be useful for design. This would culminate in a final project report and presentation that students could work on with a team throughout the semester.

Gary, I completely agree with this post. There will need to be incremental changes that is . The big challenges I see however are vast and would take years of work. These challenges range from how the collective student body perceive these changes and if the new evaluation method put in place is tangible for jobs, how new teachers and professors integrate, will this new evaluation method become a forced standard to use, how will administration *easily* understand the progress of students. These and more come to mind when considering the giant task of implementing this change. In reality, I believe there would need to be a mix method approach to grades — with the caution to not diminish the importance grades hold now.

TL;DR: Great post — agree there needs to be a change — I believe a mix method approach to grades is best.

Jap, wonderful post. I agree with some of the points you bring up. Although, one of your comments “The only way these things can be achieved is if we start to adopt a new way of learning which focuses more on learning and mastery rather than grade” got me thinking as I continued to read your post. You also have the view that grades are important but should have a minimal impact and maximize learning-oriented approaches.

I’m curious if you have an idea of what learning method that shares similar views to Dan Pink where autonomy, mastery, purpose thrives and the focus isn’t on grades. As it stands, if we reduce the impact of grades we reduce also chance reducing their importance to the mass student population within a class. Ultimately, this means we need to offer something more.

I have considered more of an experiential approach to foster autonomy, mastery, and purpose. I believe we could align the goals of students via their experience in the classroom. This might be why a creative solution is building portfolios where students can engage in something they enjoy.

Thoughts?