Undoing the Grade: Why We Grade, and How to Stop

by Jesse Stommel, Martha Burtis (Foreword), Sean Morris

Grades and assessment are elephants in almost every room where discussions of education are underway. This collection examines the what, why, and whether of When do they fail? What harm do they do and how can we mitigate that harm? Can we construct more poetic, less supposedly objective, models for assessment?

The word “ungrading" means raising an eyebrow at grades as a systemic practice, distinct from simply “not grading.” The word is a present participle, an ongoing process, not a static set of practices. Ungrading is a systemic critique, a series of conversations we have about grades, ideally drawing students into those conversations with the goal of engaging them as full agents in their own education.

This book represents over 20 years of thinking and writing about grades. The work of ungrading is to ask hard questions, point to the fundamental inequities of grades, and push for structural change. There are lots of places to begin this work. This book offers a handful of jumping off points, pedagogies and practices to explore to make assessment more equitable.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

131 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 15, 2023

Reviews

[Angie Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was assigned this book in one of my classes. I give it 4 stars because I wholeheartedly agree with and believe in the idea of “ungrading” as an act of resistance, a way to dismantle oppressive systems, and a tool to actually teach students rather than rate them on their ability to regurgitate information. I think this will be a more common pedagogical approach as more and younger teachers come into the field having experienced the negative impacts associated with traditional grading. That being said, I do think there absolutely has to be structure in a classroom, and that structure must vary depending on the students. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach in any aspect of teaching, but I love that this book opens the door to conversations of change and evolution.

[David Orvek · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this had been the first thing I read about ungrading, I think I would probably have given it 5 stars. There are so many important ideas and questions here. As a book, I think the fact that it's a compilation of earlier blog posts shows. It can at times be repetitive and lack a bit of cohesion. But still, an absolute essential for any educator.

[C.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Must Read For in Education

If you teach or work in education in any capacity, you need to take the time and read this book. This isn’t about getting rid of grades, but rather focusing on helping students learn. If this book doesn’t cause you to pause and reflect, it may be time to find a new job.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jesse Stommel is (and has been) one of the most important voices in "ungrading" as a practice. His insights shared on social media, various blogs, and in previous publications have done much to foster the important dialogue(s) that have multiplied over the last decade or so. There's a lot in this tiny volume that is great for excerpting, but the manifesto-like tone and compilation of previous writings (which is more of what it is rather than a book) frustrated me occasionally, especially as someone who is not new to these topics.

Stommel makes a convincing case for "why" we shouldn't grade, for the most part, but the "how to stop" part could be a bit more robust in terms of nuance and detail. That said, there are some really important take-aways, even for those who might not want to adopt a complete
"ungrading" approach. Stommel writes, "My goal in eschewing grades has been to more honestly engage student work rather than simply evaluate it" (2). This is a key factor and should be an overarching pedagogical objective for anyone looking into alternative assessments (I use the term in acknowledgement of its problematic aspects). There are also some really wonderful pithy quotes: "Grades are the bureaucratic ouroboros of education" (11) sums up the raison d'etre for Stommel's work, in that it isn't just about grading/not grading/ungrading, etc..., but looking at the larger structural failings of education. "Ungrading" (broadly interpreted) is one way to fight back, and it can be done without necessarily jeopardizing one's gainful employment, especially if it is grounded in sound pedagogy and includes student dialogue and buy-in. That's not to say everyone will have the academic freedom to do so, but as more and more educators make "plus 1" changes (to borrow from Behling and Tobin's
Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education), the tide may eventually turn.
Stommel's indictment of relegating "pedagogy" to the LMS is spot-on, although I'd push back a bit at his disdain for rubrics. I appreciate and agree with his criticism of "overly mechanistic" rubrics that are more focused on "efficiency in evaluation" (29), but I gently part company with him when he says: "...when rubrics are given in advance to students, they are likely to close down possibility by encouraging students to work toward a prescribed notion of excellence." (30). While I can see that, I would offer that the right rubric can be an excellent tool for transparency of expectations (especially if those expectations are cultivated through dialogue with the students, as Stommel advocates). With LMS incorporating AI more frequently to assist with things like making rubrics, I fear rubrics are being defined, especially for new faculty, as mechanistic tools for evaluation rather than realizing a fuller potential that they could have as a pedagogical implement for engagement and transparency.
In "How to Ungrade" Stommel says, "If you're a teacher and you hate grading, stop doing so much of it." (68). He helpfully differentiates the conversation from one about "efficiency" (a word I'd like to see removed from pedagogical spaces, at least until we regain some balance as far as AI is concerned). I think there's a lot of joy to be had from engaging with student work, and this might shift the conversation a bit: rather than aiming for "less grading" it might be about spending that energy cultivating relationships and I think Stommel makes a strong and impassioned case for doing just that . Overworked and underpaid teachers are (rightfully so) often leaning into "easier said than done" because they are exhausted. So, I'd encourage those who are new to the ideas of people like Paulo Freire and bell hooks to use Stommel's book as a starting point for inspiration, and try out some of the concrete examples for alternative assessment in Chapter 8.

[Keegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve known of Jesse Stommel’s work to dismantle grading from his posts and threads on Twitter. His ideas were inspiring, and every summer when I sit to plan out my class, I have his voice (or what I assume his voice would sound like) in my head, gently urging me to grade less and connect with my students more.

I was excited, then, so see UNDOING THE GRADE: WHY WE GRADE, AND HOW TO STOP. I assumed the extra room and more expansive page space would allow Stommel to expand on his anti-grading crusade, explaining both what function grades serve and how we might move away from them (both as individual instructors and whole institutions). That’s not exactly what we get.

This is more like an edited collection of essays all written about a similar topic—a Stommel’s “Greatest Hits” if you will. But each essay has it’s own argumentative agenda, and at times, these agendas overlap. The thrust of the book is that we need to be more intentional in how we approach grading, and recognize that grading systems, no matter how seemingly “objective,” will likely always do harm to the students, particularly marginalized students.

I agree with Stommel, and truthfully, I found a lot of his polemic to be incredibly inspiring. But my agreement is mostly grounded on, as the kids say, vibes. I have always had the feeling that grades hamper learning, and I know there is research out there to support that. I was hoping Stommel’s book might better explain why. Instead, it takes as given that grades are bad, and makes only perfunctory attempts to prove otherwise.

I don’t feel it’s unreasonable to think a book with the subtitle: “Why we grade…” would include a historical analysis of how grades became entrenched in academia (something that Stommel briefly addresses in an early chapter, noting that letter grades are only about 60 years old). I was looking for some evidence, some grounded reasons, for why grades are a problem. How did we get there? How have they come to play such an outsized role in shaping academic policy and institutional directions? In what specific way do grades harm the marginalized? None of this was addressed in much detail. Maybe it’s a marketing issue. Had the book been titled THOUGHTS ON GRADING: THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF JESSE STOMMEL, my own expectations might have been better set as I approached the text.

Part of the problem might be Stommel’s own refusal to think about assessments and pedagogy in broad strokes, insisting instead that each class (even each section) needs to have it’s own idiosyncratic pedagogical approach to assessment. To replace grades with “Ungrading” (as he so hesitantly calls it) would just be replacing one rote system with another. The root of the issue is not grades but what those grades mean and what we are trying to do with them. Such an ideology makes it hard to then, as the second part of the subtitle says, argue “how to stop” using them. He flatly refuses to suggest a set of best practices. He doesn’t go into too much detail about any practical matters about any sort of assessment. That would be our job. While I admire that refusal to be the voice of this movement or to speak for what others should do, that is why I came to the book. I don’t know how not to grade, and as someone who so frequently reminded us that he hasn’t put a grade on an assignment in over 20 years, he might have included some more practical advice on how to make this change.

All that said, if you are just thinking about moving to alternative assessment models, this book will give you the shove you need to move in that direction. It is full of rally cries and sound bites: “students are not rows in a spreadsheet” and so on. If, like me, you wanted some receipts so that you could rationalize, if even to yourself, why you need to make that move, this book might leave you wanting.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this were the only writing I had ever read on the subject of ungrading, I think it might provide a useful summary of the philosophy and some prior literature. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything new, or any critical discussion of practices that had and hadn't worked for this instructor with their courses and students. Much of it seemed repetitive and derivative. I understand the repeatedly expressed desire not to list any universal "best practices," but without any clear sense of what was tried, where, and with whom, there's no information a reader can leverage to try to identify practices that might work in their own contexts with their own students. I upgraded from 2 to 3 stars because readers without knowledge of others' work might find this summary interesting.

[Abragail Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an educator, this book was incredibly insightful! I was able to adapt several of my courses using the methods suggested. As educators we are taught that grades are how we measure progress, but as someone who teaches in a creative industry, the grades don’t actually reflect creative growth and understanding. By changing the way we focus on grades we spend more time massaging student creativity and allow them to learn in their best way. Will this work for all classes? I don’t think so. But in creative industries, it’s a game changer.

[Siona Hutchings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book while completing my MEd research on ungrading. It was full of many good points and I liked the reference section at the end. I hope to implement some of these ungrading practices in my own classroom. Thanks for the research!

[Tracey Calo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the chapter, How to Ungrade particularly helpful.