# @edutopia on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CRO6TZVAUkx
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/20303757-edutopia-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/8ec1505b8d.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-07-12T15:58:03.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Edutopia (@edutopia) — https://gondola.cc/edutopia

## Caption

Like many math teachers, Crystal Frommert was used to questions like “What can I do to get my average up to an A?” and “How many points off if I forgot units?”⁣
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She wished the middle and high school students she taught over the years were focused on learning, but rather than blame them, she reflected on how she had “contributed to the grade-obsessed culture” by praising students “based on their grades rather than their effort and improvement.”⁣
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So she and a group of teachers at her school shared strategies and resources to de-emphasize grades in their classes—“even though we still had to give them.”⁣
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1. Adjust your language: Rather than using threatening statements about grades, Frommert shifted to encouragement, such as, “You did really well with simplifying radicals. I’m looking forward to seeing how you apply that skill to the Pythagorean theorem.”⁣
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She also shifted her language with parents: “I would email or call with information about the concepts or skills their child was demonstrating rather than emphasizing grades,” she writes.⁣
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2. Delay the grade: Frommert began to grade tests with the usual marks—but did not write any point deductions or a grade on the test itself. Afterward, she asked students to reflect and make corrections that they then discussed with her.⁣
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3. Lower the stakes: Frommert stopped recording completion grades for homework and started emphasizing it as a “chance to practice and explore.” She also dropped each student’s lowest quiz grade each term.⁣
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4. Provide retakes: Frommert’s high school math department had a policy of “offering a retake test per term to replace the lowest test grade,” she writes.⁣
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5. Allow self-grading: Research shows that giving grades can have detrimental effects. One way teachers can counter that is through “giving students more ownership of their assessment” by having them complete their own rubric, which can lead to productive conversations with students and boost their metacognitive skills.⁣
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Link in bio.⁣

#StudentAssessment #Homework #MiddleSchoolTeacher #HighSchoolTeacher

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## Tags

middleschoolteacher, homework, studentassessment, highschoolteacher

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