Alternative Grading: Using Contract Grading Effectively

by Kamarie Chapman, Senior Instructor, Theatre and Dance, WWU

Overview

The idea of alternate grading (ungrading) was presented to me during the spring quarter of 2021. All the courses were offered online and students could opt to take a class as Pass/No Pass up until the last week of the course. I was frustrated and exhausted. Having put so much effort into really trying to make classes not feel commercial or generic, like so many complaints of online classes, I felt like the ability for a student to just give up in the eleventh hour was not fair to all the work I had done. My classes are awesome. Why wouldn’t anyone want to work for the A?

I didn’t give up, so why is it okay for my students to?

I am a person that has lived with ADHD all my life. Sometimes this neurodivergence really serves me well in immediate focus of tasks that need to be completed right away. I’m extremely good at organizing and figuring out how to get work done. I also have major crash periods after extremely stressful times that are difficult to shake off. And the isolation of the pandemic was rough (who am I telling?), so I started to take things really personally. And students needing to be able to not “skate by” was something that unexpectedly brought me to my knees.

After a few epic temper tantrums to friends and a couple days of storming around, I finally started to wonder if there wasn’t a better way to assess students. I started to really look at what I was trying to accomplish for people participating in my courses and what was the core of what they needed to move forward in the major/life/etc. After chatting with a few mentors and some other colleagues, I started researching various forms of non-traditional grading. There are a few, and most of them incorporate modern pedagogical practices many of us are striving for already. I started implementing contract grading the start of Spring 2021 and have no plans to go back to traditional assessment.

Hopefully this presentation can help anyone watching learn a little about my process and how it can inform their own unique grading scheme if that’s why they are here researching.

Impact on Teaching and Learning

Setting up contract grading was a lot of work on the front end. Like hours and hours of my already, fully hybrid course. But even when I was recreating the assignments and setting up the new materials, I could see how it would benefit myself and the student.

For everyone the biggest impact comes from having established clear expectations. The instructor is clear about exactly what they are looking for with each grading path, and the students are clear about which grading path they are working toward. Everyone who wants the extra feedback on assignments gets it, and those that just need to get through this class don’t have a passionate professor trying to encourage them to do more.

Having these contracts in place has really helped me check my ego as an educator and blossom my own research. It has brought a lot of the joy in teaching back. And my students feel less stressed as well. It seems like such a simple process (clear expectations), but I had never even considered assessing students in a way where they get to be accountable for their own learning. The feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive.

Steps/Tips/How-To Implement

Starting is a little daunting. Especially because there are so many different ways to implement contract grading into your course. I will tell you how it works best for me but know that if you think something may not work as well for you, change it up! I’ve learned some tough lessons in the last couple years implementing this assessment method (which I talk about in my presentation), but the challenges have been good for me and only helped me deepen my understanding of adult pedagogy.

Here’s a bulleted list to get you started:

Evaluate your course. What is the basic minimum you think every student who takes this class NEEDS to have in order to move forward or be considered successful? I’m not talking about exceptional work; I’m talking about what do they actually need to know to pass this course with a C.
Once you’ve established the baseline of what they need to obtain a C, start establishing the parameters for a B and then an A. These are now your grading paths. (I don’t offer a D path… if someone is taking the class Pass/No Pass they can negotiate with me, but in our major students have to get a C or higher in all required courses).
What about participation? Do y’all meet in person? Online? What do you consider the basic-this-is-the-minimum-amount-of-participation you find appropriate for a C level student? How about the other paths?
Time to start rewriting assignments. Clearly state the expectations for each path. If you like rubrics, fine. They don’t work for me, so on each assignment due I have clear parameters for each grading path. There’s no guessing what’s going in my head, and I no longer have an expectation that everyone will do their best because they love my class. See? Already freeing yourself of that extra burden that many don’t want.

From there you start really thinking about how to clearly communicate the overview of each grading path for the quarter/semester. For the A path how many absences are allowed? How many assignments can be missed? So on, and so on…

Once you have everything established, then you can start deciding whether you will allow contract deviations. I allow one fall from grace, but if they keep violating the contract they have to move down a grade. I will not allow anyone to perform at a D level. If they are not handling the C path, then I encourage them to drop the class.

It’s also helpful to have a list of FAQs. There are examples of syllabi, assignments, language used in the accompanying canvas course to my presentation. They are in editable formats so that you may copy/paste if needed. I hope you will begin this process and find this information helpful to start out. One class at a time is all it takes!

References and Other Resources

References:

Enhancing Pedagogy in the Virtual Classroom: An Exploration of Qualitative Student Assessment – Jeff Aulgur, Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Adult and Higher Education Alliance (2020)

How I Contract Grade – Ryan Cordell (2019)

A Unilateral Grading Contract to Improve Learning and Teaching – Jane Danielewicz and Peter Elbow, College Composition and Communication, vol. 61, no. 2, 2009, pp. 244–268. (2009)

The Case Against Grading – Alfie Khon (2011)

Grades Can Hinder Learning. What Should Professors Use Instead? – Beckie Supiano, The Chronicle of Higher Education (2019)