The Grading Podcast

Recorded live at MathFest 2026 in Boston, this special episode brings together mathematics faculty from institutions across the country for a wide-ranging conversation about alternative grading. With the practice becoming increasingly visible in mathematics education, Sharona invites the group to reflect on what they are hearing, questioning, and thinking about as they move through the conference. The discussion opens space to consider emerging practices, persistent challenges, and the kinds of questions that arise when educators gather in person to compare experiences and rethink how grading can better support student learning.

Links

Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

• The Impact of the Challenge Grading System on Success Rates and Persistence in Calculus II and III, by Sandi Xhumari and Helen Burn

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

What if the biggest challenge facing education isn't grading—but our assumptions about school itself? In this episode, Sharona and Boz welcome anthropologist and author Susan Blum for a wide-ranging conversation about how her research into plagiarism led her to question the fundamental purpose of grades, assessment, and formal education. Drawing on her books Ungrading and Schoolishness, Susan reflects on why students so often pursue achievement instead of learning, how traditional grading systems shape that behavior, and why the rapid rise of AI has intensified long-standing questions about motivation, authenticity, and the value of education. Rather than focusing on grading techniques alone, this episode steps back to examine the larger assumptions underlying our educational systems and asks what meaningful learning should look like in a rapidly changing world.

Links

Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

• Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) by Susan D. Blum
• Schoolishness: Alienated Education and the Quest for Authentic, Joyful Learning by Susan D. Blum
• Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School (Hack Learning Series) by Starr Sackstein
• Trevor Aleo's Substack
• Susan D. Blum on Substack and LinkedIn

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Few people have had a greater influence on the alternative grading movement than Linda Nilson. In this episode, Sharona and Boz welcome the author of Specifications Grading and Specifications Grading 2.0 to reflect on the origins of one of the most widely adopted approaches to grading reform. Linda shares the experiences that led her to question traditional points-based grading, the ideas she combined to create specifications grading, and how an approach that began as a response to her own frustrations grew into an international movement embraced across disciplines. The conversation explores the philosophy behind specifications grading, the challenges of introducing a radically different grading system, and Linda's hopes for the future of grading reform as educators continue to rethink assessment in an era of rapid educational change.

Links

Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

• Specifications Grading 2.0, by Linda Nilson and Joe Packowski

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Alternative grading systems are never really finished. They evolve as instructors learn more about their students, their courses, and their own teaching. In this reflective episode, Sharona and Boz use a recent six-year retrospective by mathematics instructor Hilary Freeman as a springboard for exploring what long-term iteration looks like in practice. Rather than focusing on how to implement an alternative grading system for the first time, the conversation examines the kinds of questions that emerge only after years of experience: Which parts of a grading system become simpler? Which become more sophisticated? And how do changing technologies, student needs, and classroom contexts continue to reshape even well-established courses? Through the lens of one instructor's journey, the hosts invite listeners to think of course design as an ongoing process of reflection, experimentation, and continuous improvement rather than a destination.

Links

Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

• Standards-Based Grading Six Years Later, by Hilary Freeman on the Grading for Growth Blog

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Specifications grading has become one of the most influential approaches in the alternative grading movement, but how has the model evolved since Linda Nilson first introduced it more than a decade ago? In this episode, Sharona and Boz sit down with Joe Packowski to discuss the newly released second edition of Specifications Grading and the journey that led him from a 25-year career in industry to becoming a leading voice in grading reform. The conversation explores the intersections between higher education and the workplace, the role of data and student feedback in refining grading systems, and how a growing community of practitioners is adapting specifications grading across disciplines and contexts. Along the way, the group reflects on mentorship, professional networks, and what it means for an educational innovation to move from a small pilot project to a global community of practice.

Links

Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

• Specifications Grading 2.0, by Linda Nilson and Joe Packowski
• The Personal Efficiency Program, by Kerry Gleeson
• The Four Disciplines of Execution, by Chris McChesney
• Specifications Grading on LinkedIn
• Joe Packowski on LinkedIn

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The 2026 Grading Conference brought together hundreds of educators from across disciplines to share research, classroom innovations, and practical strategies for rethinking assessment. In this episode, Sharona and Boz are joined by conference organizers Katie Mattaini and Drew Lewis to reflect on the conversations, presentations, and emerging themes that stood out most this year. Rather than providing a comprehensive recap, they explore what made this year's conference unique: from increasing disciplinary diversity and growing institutional participation to new questions about student perspectives, accessibility, implementation at scale, as well as the future of grading reform. Whether you attended the conference or missed it, this conversation offers a window into the ideas currently shaping the alternative grading community and the directions the field is beginning to explore.

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

One of the biggest objections to alternative grading is also one of the most practical: How can this possibly work in large classes? In this episode, Sharona and Boz welcome computer science professor Craig Zilles to explore what happens when technology is designed not just to make grading easier, but to make better assessment practices possible. Craig shares how his own experiments with second-chance testing evolved into a campus-wide computer-based testing facility that now supports thousands of students and enables frequent assessment, rapid feedback, and multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning. Together, they discuss the logistical barriers that often prevent instructors from adopting alternative grading, the promise and challenges of technology-enhanced assessment, and how thoughtful infrastructure can help bring learning-centered grading practices to even the largest university courses.

Links

Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

• PrairieLearn

Contact Craig Zilles at: zilles at illinois dot edu.

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

In this episode, Sharona and Boz sit down with renowned mathematics education researcher Peter Liljedahl to explore the often-overlooked connection between classroom pedagogy and grading practices. Best known for his influential work on Building Thinking Classrooms, Peter shares his own journey into alternative grading, from questioning traditional percentage-based systems to developing approaches that prioritize meaningful feedback, student growth, and competency development. The conversation examines why so many educators embrace active learning while leaving grading unchanged, the philosophical shift required to move from “point gathering” to “data gathering,” and why multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning are fundamentally different from traditional retesting.

Links

Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

• Building Thinking Classrooms (Website with Resources)
• Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics (the book), Peter Liljedahl
• 136 – Grading for Physicists, Not Point Collectors – with Chris Sarkonak

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

In this behind-the-scenes episode, Sharona and Boz take listeners inside the early stages of designing a brand-new (to Sharona) course: a general education quantitative reasoning class she affectionately describes as “Math for Humans.” Using the conversation itself as a form of reflective practice, Sharona and Boz unpack the challenges of building a grading architecture, selecting meaningful assessments, and creating authentic learning experiences for students who may never take another mathematics course. Along the way, they wrestle with broad learning outcomes, project-based assessment, collaborative grading, student agency, and the growing influence of AI on both learning and assessment. The discussion explores difficult questions about what students actually need to know, how educators can balance structure with autonomy, and whether traditional academic skills still make sense in a world where AI tools are readily available. More than a conversation about one course, this episode offers a candid look at the uncertainty, experimentation, and reflection that accompany thoughtful course design and demonstrates why redesigning a course is often less about finding answers than about asking better questions.

Links

Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Students’ Academic Development
• The Course Design Cycle

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

In this episode, Sharona and Boz welcome back David Clark to unpack his recent end-of-semester “3x3x3” reflection blog post for Grading for Growth. Using a structure of three surprises, three lessons learned, and three lingering questions, the conversation explores everything from refining standards-based grading systems after more than a decade of iteration to the growing reality that students themselves are beginning to read and discuss alternative grading literature. Along the way, the trio dives into the importance of positive feedback, the role of classroom relationships and physical learning spaces, the challenges of designing meaningful assessments in the age of AI, and the tension between flexibility and structure in student learning.

Links

Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates links. Clicking on them and purchasing through them helps support the show. Thanks for your support!

• Reflections on a Year of Alternative Grading
• Episode 100 - Getting the Band Back Together
• Exploring the effects of artificial intelligence on student and academic well-being in higher education: a mini-review
• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Students’ Academic Development
• David Clark's Website

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

• The Grading for Growth Blog
• The Grading Conference
• The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

• Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
• Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
• Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram - @thegradingpod. To leave us a comment, please go to our website: www.thegradingpod.com and leave a comment on this episode's page.

If you would like to be considered to be a guest on this show, please reach out using the Contact Us form on our website, www.thegradingpod.com.

All content of this podcast and website are solely the opinions of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent the views of California State University Los Angeles or the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.