The Grading Podcast

Grading reform has been a decades-long effort—but in this episode, Sharona and Boz argue that it’s now urgent. They explore what’s changed: post-pandemic student disengagement and distrust that grades reflect real learning, the way AI has shifted the conversation from “cheating” to “purpose,” and growing institutional pressure to demonstrate educational value. They frame grading as the linchpin th...

In this episode, Sharona and Boz discuss the recent grading controversy at the University of Oklahoma and use it as a launching point to focus on why rubrics matter so much to grading integrity, consistency and student learning. They reflect on how loosely defined criteria invite subjectivity, create wildly different grading outcomes for the same work, and leave students guessing about what “count...

Happy New Year! We are taking a small break this week from releasing new episodes, so please enjoy our most popular episode from 2025. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode! In this episode, Sharona and Bosley share some of the top line results of a direct comparison between traditional grading and alternative grading. In a tightly coordinated course with many instructors, sections and...

Happy Holidays! We're taking the week off from recording, so enjoy this replay about visionary leadership!! In this episode, Sharona and Boz interview Doug Wilson, principal of Avondale High School in Michigan, about his advice on implementing building-wide grading reform. This discussion touches on ways of being a visionary leader, how to move towards culture change around grades, and advice to a...

Dr. Stephanie Valentine (University of Nebraska–Lincoln) joins Sharona and Boz to tell the origin story behind TeachFront —a grading-and-feedback platform she and her students built after getting buried in spreadsheets trying to make standards-based / ungrading-style systems work at scale. They dig into what shifted when grades stopped being “points to litigate” and became feedback for growth, wha...

What happens to grading when AI can do so much of what we’ve traditionally asked students to do by hand? In this episode, Boz and Sharona talk with educator, author, and podcaster Derek Bruff about his three-stage journey into mastery-based assessment, from early test corrections to coordinated mastery quizzes to rebuilding exams in a cryptography seminar—then zoom out to the upcoming Alternative...

In this episode, Boz and Sharona take on a big question: What should we be doing to our courses, right now, in an AI-saturated world—without losing the human relationships that actually keep students in school? Sharona shares her own urgency as she prepares to return to teaching precalculus for the first time in a decade, while hearing college students (including her own kids) question whether hig...

Happy Thanksgiving! We're on a break this week so enjoy this replay of episode 46! On this episode we welcome back the "sportscaster" of Alternative Grading, Dr. Matt Townsley, to talk about his new book Extinguishing the Fires within Assessment and Grading Reform. As Alternative Grading practices grow and take shape throughout the United States, efforts to resist these reforms are also growing. T...

In this episode, Sharona and Boz dive into a concept new to many educators — Teacher Assessment Identity — and explore how teachers’ beliefs, experiences, and professional contexts shape the way they design, interpret, and use assessments. Sharona introduces the idea after hearing about new research connecting assessment practices to teacher identity, and then leads Boz through a live, on-air refl...

In this episode, Sharona and Boz follow up on episode 121 and sit down with Dr. Sharon Stranford , Professor of Biology at Pomona College , to explore her journey from traditional grading toward ungrading and collaborative grading in STEM. Sharon shares how her experiences as a first-generation college student , a long-time practitioner of just-in-time teaching , and a pandemic-era educator led he...

In this episode of The Grading Podcast , Sharona Krinsky and Robert “Boz” Bosley dive into what it means to co-create grading practices with students—especially in STEM disciplines where structure and sequence often seem incompatible with collaboration. Sharona shares her plans to implement a collaborative grading model in her upcoming Precalculus course at Cal State LA, inspired by Sharon Stranfo...

In this episode of The Grading Podcast, Sharona Krinsky and Robert Bosley sit down with Dr. Wendy Smith, Director of the Center for Science, Mathematics, and Computer Education at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Wendy shares how her journey into alternative grading began long before the term even existed—rooted in her own struggles as a math student who learned deeply, but not always “on time....

n this episode, Sharona and Boz sit down with returning guest Emily Pitts Donahoe (University of Mississippi) and first-time guest Sarah Silverman (Goodwin University) to explore the complex intersection of neurodiversity and alternative grading . Drawing on their collaborative three-part Substack series, Emily and Sarah unpack how different grading structures—ungrading, specifications grading, la...

In this episode of The Grading Podcast, Sharona Krinsky and Robert Bosley welcome Dr. Michael Palmer, the Barbara Fried Director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Teaching Excellence and recipient of the Bob Pierleoni Spirit of POD Award. Together, they dive deep into the origins of the new Alternative Grading Institute being offered by the Center for Grading Reform, the “grading scheme a...

In this episode, Boz and Sharona dig into the instant reactions that educators often have when they first hear about alternative grading. Inspired by Dr. David Clark’s recent Grading for Growth blog post titled “Kneejerk Reactions,” Boz and Sharona unpack the most common reflexive objections to grading reform and explore practical, compassionate ways to respond. From “Retakes aren’t real world!” t...

What happens when we give students meaningful choices in their learning? In this episode, Sharona and Boz dive deep into the role of student choice, autonomy, and agency in both K–12 and higher education classrooms. They start with a simple question: if nearly every school and district mission statement includes “lifelong learners,” how do our grading practices actually support—or undermine—that g...

In this episode, Sharona and Boz dive into the essential role of community in grading reform. They reflect on their own journeys—Boz beginning with a supportive colleague and PLCs in K-12, and Sharona starting out largely on her own in higher ed—and how those experiences shaped their perspectives. Together, they explore why building communities of practice is critical not only for getting started...

In this week's episode, Sharona and Boz sit down with Marc Aronson, Dean of Academics at Cheshire Academy in Cheshire, CT. This fascinating conversations begins with grading what matters but goes into innovation ways of approaching honors classes, using authentic assessments in the form of final demonstrations of learning, and finding ways to use the external motivations of grades to grade things...

In this episode, Sharona and Boz sit down with Jen Smielewski, a math teacher at Avondale High School. Jen works with Doug Wilson, the principal at Avondale High School who was a guest on episode 101 about visionary leadership. In this episode, Jen shares the "experience first, formalize later" methodology that the entire math department has adopted through the change to standards-based grading an...

In this episode, Sharona and Boz welcome Jeff Anderson back to the pod to talk about power, excellence, expertise, and how to work within grading structures that we are no longer comfortable with. This fascinating conversation touches on everything from analyzing the existing power structures within education and how our individual grading policies uphold or challenge those power structures to the...

In this episode, Sharona and Boz look at another common area where instructors get stuck when redesigning a course to use alternative grading - the fourth decision of the grading architecture: wrapping up into a final grade. From too many choices to the issues with complexity, Sharona and Boz breaks things down and provide concrete ideas when looking at that final part of the grading architecture....

In this episode, Sharona and Boz speak with Camp (Dr. John Camp), the head of teaching and Learning at NEIA, the New England Innovation Academy. NEIA is an Independent day and boarding school in Massachusetts. NEIA's mission is to prepare the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams and shape. In this episode, Camp shares with Sharona and Boz how NEIA uses alternative...

Sharona sits down with MathFest 2025 attendees Drew Lewis, Jennifer Moorehouse, Lipika Deka, Jennifer Narang, and Cory Wilson to discuss what we heard on the ground at this year's conference. From people presenting their experiences to a variety of data and forward looking opportunities, Alt Grading is making the switch to mainstream! Links Please note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Ass...

In this episode of The Grading Podcast, Sharona and Boz talk about some common reasons instructors get stuck during the process of redesigning a course. From looking again at the different parts of the course redesign cycle to exploring ways of breaking through roadblocks, join us as we take another look at the course redesign cycle. In particular, they talk about the importance of clearly definin...

In this episode, Sharona and Boz explore a recent article from EdWeek in which a middle school principal shares the motivations behind a switch to standards-based grading as well as the initial failures and eventual successes of that move. Join us as we talk about the tension between short term and long term results, the "why" of the switch to alternative grading practices, and the challenges with...