Throughout a student’s academic career a strong emphasis is placed on grades. Because of this students are often pressured to perform to standards and expectations created by the teacher. Through implementing contract grading, a more democratic approach to grading, students and teachers co-create a tentative syllabus and evaluation system. This study examines the positive and negative effects of contract grading implemented at the undergraduate level through analysis of case studies and teacher action research studies. Special attention is given to how contract grading affects a student’s academic performance, how a more student-centered classroom influences teacher-student relationships, and how this approach can be applied to a high school classroom since little research has been carried out at the high school level
