Grow Beyond Grades

Join us for a Community Gathering with Carla Meyrink on Saturday, October 24, at 12 noon ET. RSVP here to save your spot!

When Students Become Partners in Learning

At The Community for Learning in the Dominican Republic, curiosity and student-centered learning have long been central to the school's philosophy. But when grades were introduced, head of school Carla Meyrink noticed something troubling: students began focusing on marks rather than learning. What followed was a schoolwide journey toward assessment practices that put students back at the center.

In this conversation, Carla and I explore how students can help shape assessment criteria, use exemplars to understand quality, and develop the capacity to evaluate their own work. We discuss how writing conferences can transform feedback into genuine learning, why teachers need opportunities to reflect on their own practice, and how student voice can extend beyond the classroom. Carla shares the story of a student-led think tank that helped create Project Day—an example of what becomes possible when schools invite young people to help shape their own education.

Topics

• How introducing grades changed students' relationships with learning.
• Involving students in developing assessment criteria and understanding quality.
• Using exemplars and self-assessment to build student ownership.
• Why writing conferences can be more powerful than written feedback alone.
• Helping teachers reflect on and improve their assessment practices.
• Moving from student feedback to meaningful student voice.
• How a student-led think tank helped bring Project Day to life.
• What school leaders can do to create the conditions for learning beyond grades.

Learning Without the Fear of Losing Points

For more than four decades, P. L. Thomas has been questioning the ways grades shape students’ relationships with learning. Beginning as a high school English teacher and continuing today as a professor of education at Furman University, Paul has experimented with delayed grading, revision, writing workshop, ungrading, and grade contracts.

In this conversation, Paul and Arthur Chiaravalli explore why students can experience feedback as judgment, how grading trains students to avoid risk, and why workshop asks students to see writing as an ongoing process rather than a one-shot performance. Paul also explains how grade contracts can create more adult relationships between teachers and students—and why assignments are better understood as “teaching and learning experiences” rather than evaluations.

Topics

• Why even high-achieving students can experience feedback as criticism.
• Revision, writing workshop, and learning through multiple attempts.
• How grades and point systems can make students risk-averse.
• Grade contracts as a way to build trust and clarify expectations.
• Why mistakes and experimentation are necessary parts of learning.
• What writing workshop actually requires from teachers and students.
• Navigating ungrading when schools and universities still require final grades.
• Practical ways educators can begin moving away from averaging and traditional grading practices.

A Different Kind of College

This conversation explores what made New College of Florida distinct: narrative evaluations, contracts, tutorials, ISP projects, and a deeply student-centered culture. Professors Rebecca Black, Jessica Young, Liz Leininger, and Jenn Wells reflect on how that model transformed teaching and learning, supported risk-taking, and shaped relationships between students and faculty.They also discuss the labor required to sustain narrative assessment, the fragility of that system after the takeover, and what educators can carry forward from a place that no longer exists in the same form.

Topics

• New College’s narrative evaluations, contracts, tutorials, and independent study.
• How alternative assessment encouraged risk-taking and richer feedback.
• Teaching as partnership and the importance of student-faculty relationships.
• How students adapted from grades, perfectionism, and constant tracking.
• The labor and culture required to sustain meaningful narrative assessment.
• What educators can carry forward from New College’s student-centered model.
• Grief, community, and what remains when a cherished institution is dismantled.

Mike Rutherford is the founder of gotLearning, an EdTech company that revolutionizes learning conversations between teachers and students while using generative AI and Natural Language Processing to analyze large amounts of student learning data. Mike’s passion for education and technology stems from a diverse career as a teacher, technology director, publishing executive, and entrepreneur. Mike's experience spans K-12 education, including international teaching in Bangkok. gotLearning's newest tool, LearningPulse, recently earned a National Science Foundation grant.

Mike also teaches one class of middle school English Language Arts three times a week, ensuring his work remains grounded in real-world classroom needs.

Resources

Angela Stockman is an instructor in the Department of Education at Daemen University in Amherst, New York. The author of several books on multiliteracy instruction, she is regularly invited to lead curriculum and assessment design work in K-12 schools, where she has also facilitated the shift to standards based grading and reporting. A former public school teacher, Angela spent fifteen years in the classroom before becoming an independent professional learning facilitator.

Resources

angelastockman.com

Dr. Kelsie Reed is a nationally certified school psychologist serving elementary and middle schools in Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland. She is the co-author of Hacking Deficit Thinking, a book that outlines eight practical reframes for fostering strength-based schools. As the founder of the Strength-Based Collective, Dr. Reed provides educators and parents with practical tools and resources to cultivate positive, strength-focused environments for all students. Her work centers on dismantling deficit-based narratives, particularly for students from historically marginalized communities. Dr. Reed is also a strong advocate for school discipline reform, neurodiversity-affirming special education practices, and addressing the unique needs of multiracial students.

Our guest on the Grow Beyond Grades podcast is Akil Bello, an expert in educational access with over 30 years of experience. Akil began his career as a test proctor in 1990 and has since held roles from CEO to consultant, working to improve outcomes for underserved students.

As the founding partner of Bell Curves, Akil focused on helping underrepresented students succeed in high-stakes testing. After selling his company, he became Director of Equity and Access at a major test prep firm, helping schools and organizations navigate standardized testing challenges.

Currently, Akil is the Senior Director of Advocacy and Advancement at FairTest, where he advocates for more equitable and responsible testing practices.

Resources

Paul Emerich France is a National Board Certified Teacher, instructional coach, keynote speaker, and adjunct professor with over a decade of experience in the classroom, teaching grades transitional kindergarten through fifth grade. He is the author of Reclaiming Personalized Learning: A Pedagogy for Restoring Equity and Humanity in Our Classrooms and Make Teaching Sustainable with ASCD. His work is featured in Edutopia, EdSurge, ASCD’s Educational Leadership, and Learning Forward’s The Learning Professional. Recently, Paul has partnered with SXSW EDU, Jefferson County Public Schools, ASCD, National Board, and Northwestern University.

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Carissa McCray is a member of Research, Advocacy, Collaboration, and Empowerment Mentoring program, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the American Educational Research Association. She has presented across the United States on topics ranging from implementing social-emotional strategies in the classroom to culturally responsive teaching techniques through the lens of critical race theory. Her ongoing scholarship and practitioner-based work are driven by creating equitable learning opportunities through the inclusion of multicultural literature, media, and curricula.

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Fabiola "Fabi" Torres is an online Ethnic Studies professor and Certified Faculty Developer at Glendale Community College. During the pandemic, she has led nationwide workshops and courses on applying equity-minded methods such as culturally responsive teaching in the online environment, humanizing online teaching and learning as well as ungrading practices.

With dual M.A. degrees in Chicana/o Studies and Learning Technology, Fabi was featured at InstructureCon 2019 for her work in humanizing online education. In 2020, she received the Online Learning Consortium Advocate Award for Diversity and Inclusion and the Distinguished Faculty Award at Glendale Community College. In the summer of 2023, Fabi was named one of the top 30 education technology influencers for EdTech Magazine.

Fabiola is a fur-mommy of Luke, Leia and Wookie.

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