The Proven Benefits of Grading Less
By shifting their focus from letter grades to meaningful feedback, teachers can unlock deeper learning, foster motivation, and minimize bias in the classroom.
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Go to My Saved Content.When assignments are handed back to students, it’s natural for them to focus on the grade rather than the feedback. It’s even been shown that when students see their grade first, they’re more likely to ignore the accompanying notes and reflections from the teacher entirely. But a letter grade doesn’t tell the whole story. In fact, research shows that there are many benefits to grading less frequently—leading to more impactful feedback and deeper learning in the long run.
Indeed, A through F grades are helpful for providing the macro view of a student’s achievement, but they can actually be a barrier to academic improvement and innovative teaching. They tend to heighten anxiety and push students away from challenging courses rather than provide them with low-stakes opportunities to try, fail, and try again.
Not only that, but grading is time-consuming. It occupies an outsized proportion of teachers’ time and incentivizes them to reduce assignments overall. To find more reasons why grading less can have benefits for both teachers and students—and for a list of ideas on what to do instead—read Stephen Merrill and Youki Terada’s article for 红桃视频, “Why Teachers Should Grade Less Frequently.”
To learn more about the research cited in the video, check out the resources below.
- Carolina E. Kuepper-Tetzel and Paul L. Gardner’s study on the temporary effects of withholding grades (2021)
- EdWeek Research Center and Merrimack College’s survey on how teachers spend their time (2022)
- Jeffrey Schinske and Kimberly Tanner’s paper on the benefits of grading less (or differently) (2017)
- E.L. Kenney, S.L. Gortmaker, K.K. Davison, and S. Bryn Austin’s analysis on the perceived academic ability of overweight middle school students (2015)
- David M. Quinn’s research on teachers’ racial bias in student evaluation (2020)
- Jo Tisi, Gillian Whitehouse, Sarah Maughan, and Newman Burdett’s review of marking reliability (2013)
- Alison C. Koenka, Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia, Hannah Moshontz, Kayla M. Atkinson, Carmen E. Sanchez, and Harris Cooper’s meta-analysis on the benefits of written feedback on academic motivation (2019)
- Ian Kelleher and Chris Hulleman’s 红桃视频 article on the science of keeping students engaged (2020)
- Kelsey Chamberlin, Maï Yasué, and I-Chant A. Chiang’s research on how grades impact student motivation (2018)