Ungrading General Education: Preliminary Results from a Pilot Study

A group of faculty members representing more than 20 courses listed in the Eastern Kentucky University General Education curriculum participated in a pilot program to test and measure the effectiveness of “ungraded” pedagogy. “Ungrading,” as defined by the group, can be any conscious effort to move student emphasis away from grades and onto learning. Given this definition, ungrading took many forms in the pilot: gradeless classrooms, grading contracts, and greater choice of assignments by students, to name a few. At the end of the semester, quantitative and qualitative data was gathered from student course evaluations; DFW and retention rates were considered; and focus groups comprised of students in ungraded classes were convened. This piece provides preliminary results from the pilot and in an effort to begin a larger conversation about the widespread adoption of ungraded pedagogies

Ungrading Across the Disciplines: Reflections of a Professional Learning Community

A group of interdisciplinary scholars formed a Professional Learning Community (PLC) in the spring 2020 semester. Their topic of consideration was “ungrading,” defined by the group as any pedagogical practice that moves a student’s focus away from grades and toward learning and growth. This essay provides an account of each instructor’s experience as a member of the PLC, highlighting both practical and theoretical considerations for instructors interested in incorporating ungrading in their courses. It also provides perspectives of students who experienced ungraded approaches first-hand

Teacher Candidate Tensions with the edTPA: A Neoliberal Policy Analysis

The edTPA, a recent example of a teacher candidate assessment, has influenced how teacher education classes are taught and how teacher candidates are learning. We describe three tensions present in candidate narratives during two separate years of edTPA implementation: attention to the edTPA rubrics vs. the student teachers’ real teaching, a focus on Pearson vs. the teacher education program, and candidates’ feelings of being monitored during the process rather than mentored