AP Grading letter
Dear AP parents and guardians:
I am excited to fill you in on a new grading system for AP English. AP English is “going gradeless.” This is something that many AP teachers and K-12 teachers have been researching, exploring, and implementing nationwide. A leader in the movement to “go gradeless,” Arthur Chiaravalli (a Haslett high school English teacher) wrote a great blog post about going gradeless here, if you are interested in reading it. http://arthurchiaravalli.weebly.com/blog/how-one-weird-finding-changed-my-perspective-on-grades
Chiaravalli explains, “the grade becomes a false currency that, over time, seems to override the student’s intrinsic desire for mastery and personal sense of purpose. Students find themselves trapped in the Sisyphean task of continually laboring for a letter or number.” In essence, studies show that grades actually begin to reduce students’ love of learning and their striving for growth. They become very good at “checklist thinking” but they lose the drive to think critically. And I really want them to be thinking critically! I also want them to get comfortable with the different systems of grading that they will encounter in college: some will be grade-based, some will be exam-only-based, and some will be gradeless until the very end. But through all of these situations, what really matters is the learning and the thinking.
So, this year, we are going gradeless. Students WILL receive a grade at the end of the semester, based on our ongoing feedback, evaluation, revision and reflection throughout the semester, as well as on students’ self-evaluation at the end. Throughout the semester, I will track their completion of assignments in Powerschool through “completed, late, missing.” This will be used for eligibility for extra-curriculars. At the end of the semester, students and I will conference and then agree on the grade that they should earn. The explanation of the grading system is here: grading system. Students will use a quarterly spreadsheet to track their goal setting, growth and learning, and self-evaluations.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I know that this is a bit of a scary risk that we are taking, but I am hoping that removing the letter grade from Powerschool will help students to refocus on the thinking and learning they are doing and on their work ethic, instead of focusing simply on their grades.
Thank you for your support!
I am excited to fill you in on a new grading system for AP English. AP English is “going gradeless.” This is something that many AP teachers and K-12 teachers have been researching, exploring, and implementing nationwide. A leader in the movement to “go gradeless,” Arthur Chiaravalli (a Haslett high school English teacher) wrote a great blog post about going gradeless here, if you are interested in reading it. http://arthurchiaravalli.weebly.com/blog/how-one-weird-finding-changed-my-perspective-on-grades
Chiaravalli explains, “the grade becomes a false currency that, over time, seems to override the student’s intrinsic desire for mastery and personal sense of purpose. Students find themselves trapped in the Sisyphean task of continually laboring for a letter or number.” In essence, studies show that grades actually begin to reduce students’ love of learning and their striving for growth. They become very good at “checklist thinking” but they lose the drive to think critically. And I really want them to be thinking critically! I also want them to get comfortable with the different systems of grading that they will encounter in college: some will be grade-based, some will be exam-only-based, and some will be gradeless until the very end. But through all of these situations, what really matters is the learning and the thinking.
So, this year, we are going gradeless. Students WILL receive a grade at the end of the semester, based on our ongoing feedback, evaluation, revision and reflection throughout the semester, as well as on students’ self-evaluation at the end. Throughout the semester, I will track their completion of assignments in Powerschool through “completed, late, missing.” This will be used for eligibility for extra-curriculars. At the end of the semester, students and I will conference and then agree on the grade that they should earn. The explanation of the grading system is here: grading system. Students will use a quarterly spreadsheet to track their goal setting, growth and learning, and self-evaluations.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I know that this is a bit of a scary risk that we are taking, but I am hoping that removing the letter grade from Powerschool will help students to refocus on the thinking and learning they are doing and on their work ethic, instead of focusing simply on their grades.
Thank you for your support!