"Imagine a classroom where students operated under an additive system of point earning rather than a subtractive system of losing points." - Rob Steller Backwards grading, also called reverse grading, is a strategy where students start with zero points, or an F, then earn their advancement through demonstrated mastery of skills and learning standards. "Grades are communication, not compensation" - Rick Wormeli The typical classroom grading system has students starting with a 100 percent average, or an "A" letter grade. Ordinarily, this average gets chiseled away with every assignment or assessment. Unless sustained perfection is realized, this is a grading system that doesn't measure or communicate student progress. This is a subtractive system that punishes the learner with ever-decreasing average scores. Do students actually know less at the end of the grading term than at the beginning? Daniel Pink would argue that ext...
Ruminations about lifelong learning.