Alternative Grading Resources
Alternative grading is an approach to evaluating student learning that moves away from traditional points-based systems. The focus shifts to assessing what students know and can do by the end of a course by deemphasizing grades and utilizing feedback loops to foster meaningful learning while encouraging students to think critically about their progress.
There is common ground that instructors using any type of alternative grading agree upon:
- Grades should reflect students’ learning, not their compliance or behavior.
- Grades should reflect what students can eventually show they have learned.
- Students should have multiple opportunities and methods to demonstrate their learning.
- Grades and points should be nonexistent or de-emphasized in favor of rich, deep feedback.
Robert Talbert and David Clark (2023) have compiled the common ground of alternative grading into what they call Four Pillars of Alternative Grading. These pillars are a great place to start if you want to shift your course to using alternative grading.
- Student work is evaluated against clearly defined standards for what constitutes “acceptable work”.
- Student work, when evaluated, is given helpful, actionable feedback that the student can and should use to learn and improve their work. Feedback is the heart of all alternative grading practices. In all these alternative practices the students’ work opens a conversation and initiates a feedback loop.
- Student work doesn’t have to receive a mark, but if it does, the mark is a progress indicator and not an arbitrary number.
- Students can revise, resubmit, or reattempt work without penalty, using the feedback they receive, until the standards are met or exceeded. It’s in the trying again that grading turns into growth.
Types of Alternative Grading
Specifications grading is a type of alternative grading where grades should reflect students’ completion of work to clearly specified levels. Specifications gradings focus on a whole product and not an individual skill. Each assignment includes a list of specifications: a clear description of what a successful submission includes, typically set at a “B” level (a high bar, but not perfect). Submissions are graded holistically on whether they meet all the specifications or not, earning a single mark (for example, “Satisfactory” or “Not Yet”). Final grades are determined by meeting specifications on related “bundles” of assignments. Specifications grading works well in assignments where you want to see students’ ability to integrate skills such as essays, proofs, portfolios, and other larger-scale assignments meant to show synthesis and integrated understanding.
Standards-based grading is a type of alternative grading in which grades should reflect students’ proficiency in clearly defined learning objectives. Assignments address one or more clear, specific, and fine-grained standards. Separate marks are assigned for each standard rather than for the entire assignment. Final grades are determined by how many, or which, standards have been completed. Even though standards-based grading isolates skills to a specific prompt/problem, assessments may test more than one standard. A standard may also appear in multiple assessments so a student’s progress can be tracked over time. Standards-based grading works well in assignments where you want to assess discrete skills such as problem sets, following methodologies, quizzes, and exams.
Competency-Based Grading
Competency-based grading is a type of standards-based grading that structures learning
into bundles. It differs from standards-based grading as grades are not only determined
by the number of standards met but the specific level of mastery that has been achieved
for the standard. For example: instead of a C meaning a student completes 5 of the
standards, it means they complete 5 of the standards at 70% accuracy. Competencies
are also often not tied to a specific unit, so it is common for skills to remain at
the developing level until more content is reached. Competency-based grading works
well in assignments where you want to assess students’ mastery of specific skills
over time, such as practical tasks, lab work, or cumulative projects that require
continuous development.
Contract Grading
Contract grading is a type of standards-based grading that has explicit goal setting
worked into the course. Students will formally sign a contract/agreement or some other
form of declaration for the work they plan to put in to achieve a specific grade at
the end of the course. You can create a list of contract options yourself, provide
a menu of options students must select to build a contract, or even negotiate the
contract with students. Often instructors will allow students to reconsider their
contract at the midterm and renegotiate what was decided at the beginning of the course.
This allows students to self-reflect and determine what level of work they are able/want
to complete for the course. Contract grading works well in courses where students
benefit from clear expectations and self-direction, such as independent study, research-based
courses, or project-based learning.
In labor-based grading students earn grades through the amount of labor they put into the course. This can include items like homework assignments, attending and participating in class, turning in assignments, drafts and revisions on time, and turning in a specific page requirement for each assignment. In this system, all work is treated as equally important so there are no hierarchies given to the assignments students choose (i.e. research papers are not 20% while homework is 5% of a final grade). This is because all assignments/engagements are designed to promote learning. Student work is not graded for quality, even though quality is often discussed. Feedback is given that responds to ideas, explains strengths and weaknesses and offers suggestions for improvement. Labor-based grading works well in assignments where process and effort are prioritized, such as creative work, lab work, writing workshops, or collaborative projects.
*Ungrading is sometimes used as a general umbrella term for alternative grading, but it is a specific type of grading as well.
In Ungrading, grades are minimal or nonexistent, with final grades collaboratively determined by students and the instructor, often through one-on-one discussions. Individual assignments are ungraded, focusing instead on detailed feedback to support learning and improvement. Regular reflections allow students and instructors to monitor progress and address any misalignments in understanding. Final grades are proposed by students with justification and depending on class size are accepted or negotiated through one-on-one meetings with the instructor. Ungrading works well in courses where student self-reflection and growth are the primary goals, such as seminars, writing intensive assignments, or open-ended projects.
Note: There have been some critiques on the equity of ungrading because students who are historically minoritized by university systems are less likely to negotiate with the instructor for their final grade or will propose lower grades than majority students. So, when incorporating Ungrading, it is important to be mindful of this.
Multiple grading schemes is a type of alternative grading that implements multiple grading schemes in a course where each scheme weighs components differently. One scheme may heavily weight summative assessments and does not include formative assessments, while another includes other formative categories and summative assessments are not weighted as heavily. To develop the different grading schemes, first separate which grades come from formative assessments, and which come from summative assessments. Then create schemes based on different weights for those categories that align with your pedagogical values.
This alternative grading format is the closest to a traditional grading scheme, except at the end of the course, grades are calculated using all schemes and the highest grade is given. This method allows students to not be penalized for missing formative assessments (for learning) if they do well on exams or gives a grade boost to students who consistently do the homework but do not perform as well on summative assessments. Multiple grading schemes work well in courses that have a diverse set of assessment types.
Translating Alternative Grading into a Traditional Gradebook
While you have decided to use some form of alternative grading in your course, at
SLU, we still must provide a traditional A-F grade at the end of the course. So, let’s
look at how we can make this transition. Start by creating a narrative description
of what each grade level (e.g., C, B, and A) represents in your course. This process
will lay the foundation for a grading rubric that clearly defines expectations and
aligns with the chosen alternative grading approach.
For writing these descriptions, consider the following:
- What specific skills or knowledge must students demonstrate to pass the course?
- Can this level of work have significant gaps, and if so, what gaps are acceptable?
- Is everything you wrote essential to passing the course? If not, revise them to reflect only the critical components.
- What distinguishes this level of work from others?
- How does this work go beyond meeting the standards?
- Does this work demonstrate a mastery of all content?
- How does this level of work show progress beyond the minimal passing level?
- How has this level of work not yet made the exemplary level?
- What separates this work from the minimally passing work?
- What critical components are missing from this level of work?
- What specific actions or achievements differentiate students at each grade level?
- How does the progression between grade levels reflect increasing mastery, complexity, or effort?
Once you’ve answered these questions, translate them into a clear rubric or grading framework. Use a table to list the requirements for each grade level (F through A), ensuring the distinctions between levels are explicit and measurable. This rubric will help both you and your students understand what each grade means and how it aligns with your learning objectives.
Works Consulted
Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time by Linda Nilson (available at PIUS XII Memorial Library)
Grading For Equity by Joe Feldman (available at PIUS XII Memorial Library)
Grading for Growth by Robert Talbert and David Clark
Labor-Based Grading Contracts: Building Equity and Inclusion in the Compassionate Writing Classroom
Undoing the Grade: Why We Grade, and How to Stop
Bailey, E. G., Jensen, J., Nelson, J., Wiberg, H. K., & Bell, J. D. (2017). Weekly Formative Exams and Creative Grading Enhance Student Learning in an Introductory Biology Course. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 16(1), ar2.
Blackstone, B., & Oldmixon, E. (2019). Specifications Grading in Political Science. Journal of Political Science Education, 15(2), 191–205.
Clark, D., & Talbert, R. (2023). Grading for Growth (1st edition). Routledge. Elsinger, J., & Lewis, D. (2020). Applying a Standards-Based Grading Framework Across Lower Level Mathematics Courses. PRIMUS, 30(8–10), 885–907.
Hiller, T. B., and A. B. Hietapelto (2001). Contract grading: encouraging commitment to the learning process through voice in the evaluation process. Journal of Management Education 25: 660-684.
Kelly, J. S. (2020). Mastering Your Sales Pitch: Selling Mastery Grading to Your Students and Yourself. PRIMUS, 30(8–10), 979–994. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511970.2020.1733150
Litterio, L. M. (2018). Contract grading in the technical writing classroom: blending community-based assessment and self-assessment. Assessing Writing 38: 1-9.
Mangum, A. (2020). Implementation of Mastery-Based Testing in Calculus I. PRIMUS, 30(8–10), 869–884.
Townsley, M. and D. Schmid (2020). Alternative grading practices: An entry point for faculty in competency-based education. Competency-based Education
Zimmerman, J. K. (2020). Implementing Standards-Based Grading in Large Courses Across Multiple Sections. PRIMUS, 30(8–10), 1040–1053.
Alternative Grading Slack Workspace – use this link to join it: Invitation to Join
Alternative Grading FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) by David Clark
Unmaking the Grade Substack by Emily Pitts Donahoe
If you would like to explore using alternative grading in your course, please feel free to schedule a confidential teaching consultation with someone at the Reinert Center.