Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, and What We Can Do about It

by Joshua R. Eyler

An indictment of the grading system in American schools—and a blueprint for how we can change it.

One of the most urgent and long-standing issues in the US education system is its obsession with grades. In Failing Our Future, Joshua R. Eyler shines a spotlight on how grades inhibit learning, cause problems between parents and children, amplify inequities, and contribute to the youth mental health crisis.

Eyler, who runs the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi, illustrates how grades interfere with students' intrinsic motivation and perpetuate the idea that school is a place for competition rather than discovery. Grades force students to focus on rewards and distract them from exploring ideas or pursuing interests beyond what they'll be tested on. In fact, grades significantly impede the learning process. They are also significantly affecting children's physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation have spiked, and academic stress tied to grades is a leading cause of this escalation.

Eyler shares success stories of grading reform efforts that are already under way as an antidote to the harms caused by the practices currently used in educational institutions. Equal parts scathing and hopeful, Failing Our Future aims to improve the lives of students by encouraging them to define success on their own terms. Parents, educators, policymakers, and students will find in these pages a rallying cry for change and a blueprint for how to implement reforms in our homes and classrooms.

Genres: Teaching, Education, Nonfiction, Academia

208 pages, Hardcover

Published August 27, 2024

About the author

Josh Eyler is the director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and adjunct associate professor of humanities at Rice University. After receiving his Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Connecticut in 2006, Josh moved to a position as assistant professor in the English department at Columbus State University in Georgia. Although he was approved for tenure at CSU, his love for teaching and his desire to work with instructors from many different disciplines led him to the field of faculty development and to George Mason University, where he served as an associate director of the Center for Teaching and Faculty Excellence from 2011-2013. In August of 2013, he came to Rice to take the position of director of the CTE. His eclectic research interests include the biological basis of learning, evidence-based pedagogy, and disability studies. He is the author of How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching (West Virginia UP, 2018).

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great primer for those uninitiated to the idea of alternative grading, or those who need a baseline rationale. Beautifully researched and convincingly argued, Eyler demonstrates, on multiple levels, the actual harm of grading as a system, without resorting to heavy-handed rhetoric or sanctimonious finger-wagging. Eyler's audience should be parents, educators, and administrators, and there is wisdom here for both K-12 and higher ed. For the purposes of this particular book, his grouping of several alternative grading models under "Standards Based Grading" (SBG) makes sense, but it means that this is not the book if you are looking for nuanced explanations of the differences between, for example, SBG and Specifications (or "Specs") Grading. For that I recommend Grading for Growth by David Clark and Robert Talbert -- a book Eyler cites. Some of the stats and case studies make for tough reading, so consider this a content warning as he does briefly mention suicides at particular institutions (hopefully that doesn't shock anyone working for more than a few years in higher ed). Eyler covers a lot of ground in terms of providing both background and practical advice, and the rich bibliography is a fruitful place for further exploration.

[Jillian Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are new to the idea of the concept that grades are harmful to students and learning, then this is an excellent starter book. Eyler talks about the need for change with a few ideas of how to move forward, but as a faculty member, there are fewer practical applications than what I'd hope compared to other books related to the topic.

[Keegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many of the radical pedagogy books I read tend to veer towards polemics. And that's fine. There is always room on the shelf for some podium-thumping rhetoric about how things should be. That said, when all the books are more about ideas than practice, it makes it hard to know what I can do. A lot of the alternative assessment work I read falls into this category: a strong, impassioned argument for *why* grades are problematic that pulls just short of making any recommendations for how to fix it. As a contingent faculty member, it's crucial that *some* praxis come from the theory so that I can shape my pedagogy to align with best practices from the more secure professoriate.

FAILING OUR FUTURE, though, did not have this problem. It made a clear argument about why grades are problematic, and included some short-, medium- and long-term solutions that vary in both scope and feasibility. It gave me a lot to think about as I read it and I actually adjusted some of my teaching materials for my First-Year Writing course based on the discussions in the book. Some of the longer-term solutions (like designing a program that went without standard assessment models) lacked specifics. A more detailed case study of the failures to launch standards-based assessment models in Maine and Vermont or the narrative-heavy transcripts from Evergreen college would have been nice. And at a snack 146 pages, there certainly was room for a more robust discussion.

In the end, though, this is a book worth the time. It's a compelling read--at times harrowing in it's discussion of harm--and has enough direction that most readers will have some direction they can go if they are interested in shaking off the dusty old habits of generations past.

[Laurie J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skimmed most of this book. Ideas not completely new to me. Good overview of topics, well-researched chapters with endnotes to sources.

Doesn’t have full solutions; more lists of solutions that require more reading to fully implement, including at least one link to get more information. Good if you’re new to the topic. It’s an overview to get started.

Don’t let the book totally depress you because it can easily. Then the feeling that something can’t be done becomes insurmountable—much like the author states happens with students and grades.

[Justin Harbin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to the harm grades introduce into the classroom and how to move toward change using ungrading and similar practices. As someone who has been ungrading now for a few years I'm not sure I gleaned many ideas, but this is one i'll recommend as an excellent first read for those who are curious. Eyler as always does a superb job of gathering relevant empirical support and writes in an accessible manner for those teaching in higher ed, K-12, and across academic disciplines.

[Rusel Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The books provides great insights into what the A-F grading scale is doing to society. Later chapters show different methods of grading and even provides overviews of people and places that have implemented a “gradeless” system. I definitely added some more books to my TBR list based on referenced discussions.

If you are a teacher exploring ways to better help your students be successful, this is a great starting point.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eyler does a great job not only detailing the harms grades cause students but providing some alternative systems that individual (and more important) larger institutions might use to replace them. I do think that most of this reform will continue to be individual for some time, but the institutional examples he provides offered a glimmer of hope for what a better future could look like.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[kaitlynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

if youre looking for a book of bullshit.... LOOK NO FURTHER.

what a joke.