What's the point of grading?

What’s the best way to grade student work? This is one of those questions that seems like it should have an obvious answer, but once you do a little digging, it turns out the answer is far from easy. Not only are schools entirely misaligned when it comes to grading practices and norms, but the more we ask why, the more it seems like nothing really makes sense at all. Marcus & Jim are starting a longer conversation on the podcast about grading, and all of the complications that follow: what to grade, whether to accept late work, if grades are even useful for learning at all, and more.

Article: “The End of Grading,” by KC Cole. Wired, February 9, 2023. https://www.wired.com/story/the-end-of-grading/

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Thanks to: Alberto Lugo, one of Jim’s former students, for writing and recording original intro music; Tom Csatari for allowing us to use his band’s recording of “Woodstock” from their 2020 album, Garden; and Courtney Milavec for graphic design.

Find Tom’s work at uncivilizedtom.com, and on Instagram @banduncivilized.

Find Alberto’s work at djsynchro.weebly.com, and on Instagram @djsynchro. 

 Email thoughts to thebrokencopier@substack.com.

Thanks for listening!