Life Beyond Grades

STUDENT: “Well to me, it is up to the professor to motivate me. I mean, I want to learn the material and all, but sometimes the material is so boring and the professor goes on and on about meaningless things.”

PROFESSOR: “Our biggest problem here is that students are not motivated. They just don’t seem to care, they are not interested in learning; only in grades. I can’t teach students like this.”

WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?

We have all encountered students anxious about grades to the exclusion of a love of learning, and for whom it feel there is no life beyond grades. And, ironically, students often accuse instructors of not encouraging the same intrinsic aspects of learning which instructors, in their turn, lament that students have come to disregard!

Can intrinsic educational goals such as subject-matter appreciation coexist, let alone flourish, in the face of a performance ethic based only on grades? Indeed, can there be life beyond grades for our students?

The answer is “Yes”. Our book, Life Beyond Grades, provides a blueprint for developing college and other courses whose highest priority is to encourage the twin goals of subject-matter mastery and the will to learn over a lifetime. The approach is theoretically sound and practically-oriented. This blueprint has been developed in real-life academic settings across a range of subject-matter disciplines, including the social sciences, the physical and life sciences, and the humanities.

To purchase the book (in soft or hard cover or Kindle versions) or request an examination copy, see the Life Beyond Grades page at Cambridge University Press.

In the meantime, you may want to learn more about the book or gain access to supplementary materials not included in the book.

For example, you may wish to learn about the steps comprising the course design blueprint for promoting a love of learning among your students.

Second, learn about the wide range of purposes and diverse audiences which can be accommodated by principles taught in this book. One or more of these possibilities may suit your needs. Learn how others are using the book, its big ideas, and suggestions to engage their students.

Third, find out about the experiences of instructors, aspiring faculty members, and staff as they apply these principles to course and curriculum design. Learn how Life Beyond Grades has benefitted their teaching and professional goals.

Two recent features in the New York Times and on Mind/Shift spotlight schools which have done away with grades in their attempts to ignite the pursuit of learning for its own sake and thus enhance both learning and appreciation of what is learned. The benefits for New Trier High School outside of Chicago and Flushing International High School in Queens as well as Brooklyn Middle School 442 seem clear. Without concerns about—or fear of—bad grades, students display greater agency and engagement.

For some, though, eschewing the grading of students is a bridge too far because grades can serve important pedagogical functions and have the potential to direct student effort toward valued goals. Others will object because grade transcripts serve additional, societal purposes. In principle grades provide a means by which to compare students within institutions and between them. They may provide information for admissions at subsequent institutions, for academic awards (financial and otherwise), employers making hiring and internship decisions. For these educators, the benefits to removing the attraction (and distraction) of grades would appear to be unrealistic and thus unattainable, whatever its benefits.

But, what if there were a resolution to this dilemma? What if schools and teachers (or other educators) could encourage what psychologists call intrinsic motivation for learning while meeting the institutional and societal expectations fulfilled by assigning grades and creating a creating a transcript of attainment? Could these twin imperatives be realized simultaneously in the same classrooms and schools?

While it appears to be true, according to a recent Psychology Today article, that contemporary college students are, in general, more achievement (read “grade”) focused than in past generations, that doesn’t mean they don’t also want to strengthen their knowledge and skills for a multitude of other reasons that contribute to intrinsic engagement with learning. Educators simply must creatively address in their course design both the pressure for grades as well as students powerful, yet often fragile, intrinsic motives to learn. Focusing on curriculum without giving equal consideration to assessment and grading and their impact on student motivation is inadequate.

Our recent book argues for designing courses which incorporate research-validated practices in order to address the legitimate and sometimes overpowering concerns and fears students have about grades and other markers of attainment. Indeed, by understanding the meaning of grades not just for societal stakeholders, but students themselves, and the motivational dynamics that ensue from these meanings, instructors can design curricula and grading systems to promote engagement with academic tasks for the purpose of learning/that minimize the fears that so often obstruct deep task engagement, an essential element of meaningful, durable learning.

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS BEFORE?

Must Educators Forgo Grades To Engage Students Deeply?