A, B, C or D – grades might not say all that much about what students are actually learning

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Joshua Rowe Eyler, University of Mississippi

(THE CONVERSATION) Grades are a standard part of the American educational system that most students and teachers take for granted.

But what if students didn’t have just one shot at acing a midterm, or even could talk with their teachers about what grade they should receive?

Alternative grading has existed in the U.S. for decades, but there are more educators trying out forms of nontraditional grading, according to Joshua Eyler, a scholar of teacher education. Amy Lieberman, education editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke with Eyler to better understand what alternative grading looks like and why more educators are thinking creatively about assessing learning.

Why are some scholars and educators reconsidering grading practices?

For more than 80 years, students at least in seventh grade through college in the U.S. have generally earned one grade for a particular assignment, and a student’s cumulative grades are then averaged at the end of the semester. The final grade gets placed on a student’s transcript.

In some ways, all of the attention is on the grade itself.

Some educators, including me, are trying to rethink the way we grade. Traditional grading is not always an...