Ungrading with Susan Blum

What's the Big Idea?

In which Dan examines the behemoth that is traditional grading--you know, the A-F and 0-100 scales, and GPAs. Dan is joined by Susan Blum (@SusanDebraBlum) who has done a ton of thinking, speaking, and writing about how teachers can move away from this crude, harmful practice and towards something called ungrading. Susan edited and contributed to Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead). She talks with Dan about why grading is not at all about learning, how it's baked into our educational system and expectations, and what teachers can start doing now to ungrade. As always, comments and questions are welcomed on Twitter and Instagram @BigIdeaEd

Mentioned in the episode:
Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) edited by Susan Blum
The Schools Our Children Deserve by Alfie Kohn
Mastery Transcript Consortium
The Ungrading Handbook from the Human Restoration Project
Grading ≠ Assessment from the Human Restoration Project

Music:
Track: Sunflower — Soyb [Audio Library Release]
Music provided by Audio Library Plus
Watch: https://youtu.be/dG1U3NuR9Pk
Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/sunflower

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.

Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada