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Reflection After Three days:

I really liked that we saw some data about the success people had with alternate grading. Especially those that compared them to traditionally graded classes.

One concrete thing I am going to apply is to have a makeup day. However, instead of doing it during finals, I am thinking of doing it on the last day of class. This should help with scheduling conflicts

One thing that I am hoping to explore is the use of testing centers to be more flexible with taking exams and the ability to have smaller assessments

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Does anyone have a set of discussion questions or activity they'd be willing to share, for having a productive & meaningful conversation with students about grades (to help increase student buy-in for alternate grading systems)? For example, a set of guiding discussion questions for reading Alfie Kohn's article "The Case Against Grades"). I'd welcome a tool like this, use in my classes!

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I'm a computer science professor and like many CS (and engineering) departments we go through an accreditation process with ABET every six years. A lot of that is focused on assessment, and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with using something like Standards Based Grading where that is fairly directed linked to or based on ABET expectations.

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Hello everyone,

The poster is now available. Please refer to the link below.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vRvP9ERJ2oVE9hssOE4NKrPtIcWzXM85XIbH96KJelNOvpjG2m02brF2Vuee0AaGUXM7-JTYhp7tX69/pub?slide=id.g3e9d2b9548e_0_531.

Feel free to ask questions and leave comments for discussion.

Thank you.

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Welcome to Virtual Poster Session 2026 Grading Conference

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Hello everyone! I am starting the process of making my intro level chemistry course for nursing students standards-based. Currently, I plan to use quizzes to assess the standards. However, I do want to give them a final exam as a last assessment and I also want to give small homework assignments to help encourage students to complete practice problems outside of class.

Does anyone have any experience with this mixed method approach? How did you get started as you started to switch your classes to more objective-based grading? Thank you for any insight you have to offer.

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I am teaching Digital Media Studies 101 for the third time. This semester will be my first time teaching the course online (asynchronous). Alternative grading is new to me, though I have used aspects of many of the approaches I am learning at this conference. Suggestions for what to include and what to avoid?

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Does anyone here teach languages? second language? I am curious to know if you have experience applying alternative grading in your classes. I teach Spanish in Quebec.

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A lot of these alternative grading systems seem to use quizzes or exams as the way to measure learning. Is there anyone here using alternative grading for a course with no quizzes or exams? Would love to hear more about what you do!

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Following up on a chat thread during the keynote today about using Gradescope for standards-based grading.

One approach is using 0 point rubric items with your rating scale as text (E, M, etc.).

The way I do it is numerical, matching the points to the proficiency ratings in Canvas.

For example, my "Achieved" in Canvas is a 3, "Needs Revision" is 2, "Not Yet" is 1, and "No Attempt" is 0.

In this way you can download the grades from Gradescope, download the blank rubric from Canvas, copy-paste into the rubric, then upload to Canvas to populate the Learning Mastery grades.

I show everything step-by-step in my SOP, under "Standards-Based Grading Resources": https://corson.ku.edu/teaching

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My teaching centers learning through active engagement, clear standards, and a structured cycle of feedback and revision that is grounded in a growth mindset.

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There seems to be quite the tension between giving student retake options and the contradictory message it sends about how things work in the real world. Would love to hear more thoughts about this.

I have a regrade period in two of my courses where students can submit missing or partial credit work to be regraded one time for up to full credit. This has been a benefit for both me and my students and I've sort of reconciled my question about by saying that the goal of my class isn't to teach them those "real world skills," it's to teach them the skills specific to my class, but I'm curious what other ways people are approaching this tension.

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I'm seeing more and more online asynchronous courses and many of the alternative grading methods and assessments I hear in the conference suggest in person assessments during class time. Does anyone have experience doing any alt grading in large asynchronous online classrooms, in this age of AI? (we can't have everyone get A+)

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Hi! I teach at a university where mid-term grades are required (a certain percentage of the grade must be returned to students by a certain date). I have used a workaround in classes with contract grading, where I provide a progress report (you are on track to achieve X grade), but I am curious if others have similar requirements and different workarounds? Thanks!

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I'm very interested in people's experience with alternative grading for wet labs. I coordinate our introductory biology labs and find that our traditional deduction-based grading is a point of friction between students and instructors. I want the students to get the feedback they need on where they are and how to improve, but I also want our instructors to have a reasonable grading load. Specs-based grading with detailed grading rubrics seemed like a possible option, but if anyone has experience with that or seen publications related to alternative grading in wet labs, please let me know!

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Is anyone else teaching music or visual arts and is using alternative grading in your courses?

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I'm curious to hear thoughts about combining alternative grading with Pass / Fail grading. Is it still valuable to students to provide granularity within the "pass" analogous to letter grades that then convert into Pass / Fail?

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Alt grading approaches (I use SBG or Contract for a B, depending on the course) result in a higher average grade for the course. Grade inflation is something that others in my department look down on.

Any thoughts on responses I can give that don't require a full explanation of alt grading?

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Hoping to find a space to discuss alt-grading with other English faculty. I'm at Heartland Community College in Normal, IL, and I teach composition, literature, and student success classes. Would love to meet others! Check out the # writing Slack channel :)

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Do you teach Communication courses? I'd like to connect with others teaching Communication, particularly public speaking, about how to incorporate alternate grading.

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Has anyone tried/had success with mastery-based grading systems for writing? I've been curious about them and wonder if in some ways they might still work well in the age of AI, though I could see how they might also have serious trouble.

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Just curious what alternate grading options there are. Although I might not use it for my large class (350+ students), I am interested in the labs I teach.

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I'm curious how folks are implementing alternative grading in Canvas. I'm planning to trial what I think is standards-based grading for writing assignments in the Fall, and students will have multiple opportunities to achieve each standard (I have 18 standards) across drafts. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how not to confuse the students with multiple rubrics across multiple drafts (and keep it manageable for myself)!

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Hi everyone, hope you're doing well!

(1.) Is anyone else using MyOpenMath as their learning management system and implementing standards-based grading? I'm preparing to use standards-based grading in online asynchronous courses for Precalculus and (non-calculus based) Intro Statistics, and any advice would be appreciated.

(2.) Has anyone already implemented standards-based grading using a MyOpenMath course shell imported into Canvas? My college uses Canvas as their main platform; I haven't integrated my MyOpenMath course shells to Canvas yet, because I'm still tweaking the course, but I'd love to hear from anyone with experience in this.

Thanks for your time!

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Hi everyone, looking forward to connecting this week!

Is anyone else, like me, using the American Statistical Association's GAISE (Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education) for designing learning targets for standards-based grading in a non-calculus Intro Statistics course (for freshmen/sophomores)? I'd welcome the chance to talk it through with a colleague.

Here is the GAISE report & supporting resources:

Report: https://www.amstat.org/docs/default-source/amstat-documents/gaisecollege_full.pdf

Resources (other reports):

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Hi all! I come from a health sciences space - we are an undergraduate program that needs to meet credentialing requirements so our students can sit for their Boards and be eligible for employment. Have any of you applied alternative grading methods in a health science context? We have integrated competencies in our laboratory courses, but I am curious to learn more about how I may apply alternative grading methods in my didactic courses for students. I want them to focus on their learning and understanding, rather than points. Looking forward to discussing and learning more throughout this conference!

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In my school (Quebec, Canada), we have to give final grades in purcentages (we do not use letter grades). 30% of the final grade has to be reserved for one production that «certifies that the student has mastered the competency of the class». I tried SBG in my math class (I sorta neglected the 30% production for that first time), and I'm very interested in specs grading. I wonder how I can make up a final grade using specs or SBG with that 30% production. I'm interested in your ideas. Thank you!

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How do our university's grading policies intersect with our training and conversations?

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Hi all! I am new to alternative grading (and teaching honestly - just finished my first full year as an assistant professor) and was wondering about student motivation. For those of you that have been using alternative grading in your college courses, what are things you wish you had known before implementing alternative grading in your courses? Looking forward to learning from everyone this week :)

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I am super curious about how other faculty have implemented alternative grading practices and hearing from their experiences about what went well and what could be improved, especially with regards to time management and giving substantive feedback

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I have built my "alternatively graded" classes around problem sets in which students are supposed to grapple with ideas, apply their own thinking, get detailed feedback from me, and revise (multiple times, if necessary). Now with AI, I am getting lots of polished first drafts with nothing to revise and clearly not reflecting the students' own thinking. They end up not learning anything and then predictably bombing the exams. I really want to avoid making my class all about testing but it does look like the take-home assignment is dead. I am looking for ideas of in-class asisgnments/activities that could replace the problem sets but also not suck all soul out of the class like endless testing would.

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Hi everyone! I'm Chuck Goodman, a math instructor at Moorpark College in Southern California. This fall I'll be piloting SBG for the first time in Applied Calculus — part of a small cohort at our college doing this together. I am really looking forward to learning from this community! My first question for anyone/everyone is how is SBG in a cohort different from solo implementation. When we worked on setting it up as a cohort, we found we all have different ideas on how to set it up.

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Does anyone have a better name for these grading practices rather than alternative grading? Mastery-based or standards-based seem so specific and I'd like a more general descriptor.

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Hello! I'm interested in trading ideas & strategies for encouraging alternative grading during the current gen AI crisis. In other words, how do we advocate for more ethical grading policies in our home departments when faculty are more worried than usual about 'declining standards' and academic integrity?

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Thoughts on students who want traditional grades...

Hi everyone! I have been using an alternative grading system for a few years, and the majority of students say they prefer it. However, there are typically a few who prefer to receive a traditional grade no matter how much feedback they receive. I always offer to meet with them and discuss what a grade would be if they want to, but no one does. How are others who are using alternative grading systems supporting students who really want a traditional letter grade on assignments? Thanks in advance for any thoughts/ suggestions!

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I'd be interested in approaches that have successfully removed student focus from chasing the grade to a focus on learning and student reflection on their learning. I've struggled with this even after reading books and articles about alternative grading.

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I've been doing alternative grading for 4 years now and was looking forward to this conference. But this pre-conference homework using technology that I have never seen before is making me think I'm going to regret this. I should stick to reading the books apparently.

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I am curious about how people are modifying specifications grading to really challenge high-performing students. I want to challenge them, but if I simply add more specifications or options, they will just keep doing everything listed like it's a grocery list. I want to encourage more depth in addition to ticking the boxes, and I want to reward that depth or unexpected work that goes above and beyond.

For me, I started bringing in some subjective assessments, which are layered on top of specs sometimes. (It's a hybrid method that feels less than ideal.) Are some of you rewarding deeper thought and higher subjective performance through grades or through other means within a spec grading structure?

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I provided test redo opportunities for my chemistry courses, but found it hard to schedule them outside of lecture time (note: I could not fit them in the lecture time). Our campus does not have a testing center. I am wondering if there is an efficient mechanism that I can use?

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I'm curious whether anyone (especially those in math) has had difficulty with student buy-in on standards-based grading systems. If you've had this issue, how did you manage/address it?

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Hi All,

I am curious about whether or not alternative grading impacts (positively or negatively) students with different types of disabilities? I'll be looking out for any resources on that topic :)

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Hi everyone! I recently moved to teaching at a community college after teaching at a small liberal arts university. I love my new role and institution, but am still adjusting to expectations.

In my previous role I used some forms of alternative grading and loved it. I've used specifications-style grading, exam retakes to foster growth mindsets for students, and even ditched a points-based rubrics for lab reports before.

However, at my new institution we have several instructors teaching different sections of the same courses, and I need to meet certain departmental requirements in teaching my courses for consistency and transferability for students (exams, quizzes, and textbook homeworks must be part of assessment, and must be X%, Y%, and Z% of total gradebook, etc. etc.). This makes it more challenging to use some forms of alternative grading, as I want/need to be aligned with my new department's norms/expectations, but have qualms with aspects of traditional points-based grading and see value in implementing alternative grading into my courses.

I'd love to hear from anyone with similar expectations, or any suggestions for navigating this from someone else.

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I've dabbled in standards based grading in an assignment, but am interested in adapting this to an entire class. Most of the information I've seen has been in STEM fields and it doesn't translate as well over to the social sciences. Any suggestions or resources?

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Does anyone have a contact or connection with Canvas and/or Gradescope? I have requested new features through the online system that would make standards-based grading easier, but I doubt much will happen through that channel.

Features I would like:

(1) Integration between Gradescope and Canvas to pass grades to a learning mastery rubric.

(2) OR be able upload a single PDF of all student work in Canvas that is automatically assigned to each student (Gradescope has this functionality - if Canvas could do it then I would use Canvas Speedgrader instead of Gradescope).

(3) Easier way to do revision of work in Gradescope and Canvas that does not reset the grade or require a link to a separate platform with the revised work.

(4) Better learning mastery gradebook view for instructors in Canvas (individual student progress not just mastered/not mastered, overall metrics for each learning outcome).

(5) Canvas student learning mastery view shows their progress towards a learning outcome, not just mastered/not mastered.

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I'd love help on how to use standards based grading with my learning management system (Canvas). I can record grades as 0, 1, 2 or3, so students can check that it was entered correctly, but how do I get Canvas to check for the required number of Mastery level achievements?

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Hello All. I am a university mathematics instructor who has been using standards-based grading (SBG) since last Fall. I like the system quite a lot, and I find it to be both more rigorous (due to the pass/fail grades that require the student to "actually learn" the material) and more forgiving (due to the generous grade forgiveness and numerous recovery pathways) than traditional grading, but both in ways that promote student learning and growth. I would like to encourage its use more widely in my department, but that will be a hard sell due to the additional labor required on the part of the instructor to write and grade retakes and corrections.

Do you have any general advice for reducing the instructor burden required to implement SBG? More narrowly, do you have any advice for how to generate pools of substantively different question versions for use in retakes, or any advice for trying to get students to make the most out of their reassessment opportunities so that they do not require as many retakes?

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I just finished my first semester of trying alternative grading with my teacher candidates. It was a start, but I have a long way to go with fine-tuning my feedback process and finding a way to work within our online grading system that makes it clear where students stand. I'm looking forward to sessions that will guide me toward that clarity. Does anyone have any "must-see" sessions they would recommend?

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I am a high school resource teacher so all my students have IEPs. I have been designing an alternative grading system for an academic success class. Does anyone out there focus on secondary students in special education?

Maria T

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Good day all,

I have been using alternative grading in higher education for over five years. I have attended sessions and read work on how to implement alternative grading in large classrooms but still struggle to figure it out.  This past academic year I taught a class of 135 and 200 for the first time all while applying alternative grading. My biggest sticking point is still wanting to provide strong qualitative feedback and maintain a feedback loop. While I managed this last year, I know it is not sustainable. Any suggestions on how to still leave feedback and allow for revisions when juggling between a total of 200-300 students a semester? Thank you!

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Greetings! Any ideas for ungrading labs? I have the chance to rethink a 2nd year chem lab and am trying to move away from long lab reports. (I've gotten some nice ideas related to group work from the slack, and I'd love to hear more about that aspect as well.) Thanks! Erika

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Hi everyone-

Many folks on my campus are clamoring for AI grading tools. Do you have effective strategies or resources that illustrate the dozens of ways that attempting to automate a flawed assessment strategy with LLMs isn't their best idea? I'd be happy to talk more about it with those interested in LLMs and GenAI.

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Hi! I have utilized alternative grading (specs) in a first-year, first-semester undergrad study skills in STEM course. I am now interested in using a students as partners framework along with specs for the next time I teach - has anyone done this before? Would love to hear about it!