Ungrading Audiobook By Susan D. Blum - editor, Alfie Kohn - foreword cover art

Ungrading

Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead)

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Ungrading

By: Susan D. Blum - editor, Alfie Kohn - foreword
Narrated by: Emily Durante, Matthew Josdal, Alfie Kohn
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.75

Buy for $13.75

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

The moment is right for critical reflection on what has been assumed to be a core part of schooling. In Ungrading, 15 educators write about their diverse experiences going gradeless. Some contributors are new to the practice and some have been engaging in it for decades. Some are in humanities and social sciences, some in STEM fields. Some are in higher education, but some are the K-12 pioneers who led the way. Based on rigorous and replicated research, this is the first book to show why and how faculty who wish to focus on learning, rather than sorting or judging, might proceed. It includes honest reflection on what makes ungrading challenging, and testimonials about what makes it transformative.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 West Virginia University Press; Foreword copyright 2020 by Alfie Kohn (P)2021 Tantor Education Higher Education Teaching
All stars
Most relevant  
It’s not a how to book. The authors set up the premise and then each chapter offers an educators experience. The selection of educators ranges from pre-high school through graduate school. I think it’s worth a read/listen as part of your research into the subject.

Those who have gone before give advice

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As I listened to the book, I made note of things that I wanted to look up in the PDF and I was really disappointed that I didn't receive it. I should have simply bought a hard copy.

Good book but the PDF is missing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved the variety of practical examples of non-graded curriculum techniques. Love Alfie Kohn's work, but way too abstract sometimes. This book grounds change with relateable examples with varying degrees of implementation. Only thing lacking is how to communicate subject importance. Many examples in the book referenced the need to get students invested in the class by making it relevant and important to their lives. I wish there were more examples of how to do with for subjects like algebra.

Fascinating Techniques

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
One of the contributors used a scene from a coming-of-age film from the 1980s(!) to demonstrate that teachers can get their students interested if the teacher just tries hard enough. It’s Hollywood not real life. And, um, the 1980s???

Already outdated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I went into this book with an eager and open mind because I, too, have questions about the utility and effect of grades. I was interested in exploring a new paradigm, and I was expecting a reasoned, thorough, systematic, and evidence-based text on how to go gradeless. Instead, what i got was a bunch of anecdotes, assertions, poeticisms, and confirmation biases. Most ideas are unsupported and some are just flatly wrong. It makes the instructors therein seem simply unqualified, uninformed, and agenda-driven. Proceed with caution, dear reader. My concern now is that the advice and philosophy presented here may actually undermine student flourishing while masking that harsh truth behind positive, first-hand, bias-affirming experiences in the classroom (i.e., of course many students would be happier without grades; of course going gradeless would alleviate some challenges for the instructor; but that doesn’t imply the outcome is in fact better).

Disappointing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.