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PODCAST

The Grading Podcast

Sharona Krinsky and Robert Bosley

Grading is an extremely important and largely unexamined piece of the classroom puzzle. In this weekly podcast, Sharona Krinsky and Robert Bosley, two long time classroom instructors from the K-12 and Higher Ed worlds, explore the nuts and bolts of grading student work. From looking at traditional grading practices to other types of grading such as alternative grading, equitable grading, ungrading, and more, join us as we and our guests provide the research, practices, and details needed to create a

education how to

All Episodes

48:57

145 - The Wrap-Up Dilemma: Turning Evidence into a...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/04/21

In this episode, Sharona and Boz are joined by electrical engineering professor Tim Monk to tackle a surprisingly thorny piece of grading design: how to combine multiple types of assessment into a final course grade. Starting from a listener email that initially raised skepticism, the conversation unpacks Tim’s approach to blending standards-based grading for learning targets with specifications grading for projects—using a carefully designed weighted system at the final “wrap-up” stage. Rather than

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56:47

144 - Second-Order Change: Why Grading Reform...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/04/14

In this episode, Sharona and Boz welcome back Matt Townsley to dig into a critical—and often overlooked—truth about grading reform: if leaders don’t understand and support it, it simply won’t scale. Drawing on both research and real-world experience, Matt explains why grading reform is a “second-order change” that requires deep philosophical commitment from administrators, not just technical adjustments from teachers. The conversation explores the upcoming Iowa based leadership-focused

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48:36

143 - Barrier or Breakthrough? Course Coordination...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/04/07

In this episode, Sharona and Boz are joined by Deb Carney to explore the complex role of course coordination in the adoption of alternative grading practices. What emerges is a nuanced tension: coordination can act as a barrier when individual instructors lack autonomy, but it also offers one of the most powerful levers for large-scale change when coordinators embrace reform. Deb shares her journey into outcomes-based grading and reflects on how collaboration, community, and shared structures made

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01:02:01

142 - Please Harvard! Don't get it wrong this time!!...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/03/31

In this follow-up to their earlier conversation about Harvard and “too many A’s,” Sharona and Boz welcome back Dr. Stephanie Valentine to unpack Harvard’s proposed new grading policy, which would cap the number of A grades in each class and layer course-based ranking on top of an already troubled system. Drawing on Stephanie’s powerful “Points Are Insidious” manifesto and her experience teaching high-achieving, perfectionistic students, the episode explores how policies built to force distinction

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56:40

141 - The Ungrading Spectrum: From Compliance to...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/03/24

In this episode, Sharona and Boz welcome back Chris Sarkonak to explore his powerful concept of the ungrading spectrum—a framework that maps the evolution of grading mindsets from traditional, compliance-driven systems to collaborative, student-centered approaches. Drawing on his classroom experience and professional journey, Chris unpacks how educators move from “this is how it’s always been done” toward systems that prioritize student agency, reflection, and ownership of learning. The conversation

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57:41

140 - Beyond Labels: Specifications, Standards and...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/03/17

Sharona and Boz are joined by Dr. Adriana Streifer, Associate Professor and Associate Director at the University of Virginia’s Center for Teaching Excellence, to explore how specifications grading, course design, and institutional culture intersect with the broader movement to rethink grading in higher education. Adriana shares how her early experiences teaching writing led her to question the fairness and meaning of traditional grading and ultimately adopt specifications grading as a way to better

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59:03

139 - Using Your Values to Design Your Grading with...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/03/10

In this episode, Sharona and Boz talk with Dr. Lindsay Masland about how meaningful grading reform starts not with a particular system, but with intentional choices grounded in values, context, and care for students. Lindsay shares her path from questioning her teaching practices through universal design and course redesign work to fully rethinking grades after a powerful experience with a student in crisis. Together, they explore how alternative grading can open the door to deeper conversations

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01:02:26

138 - Too Many A’s Or Too Much Confusion?

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/03/03

In “Too Many A’s,” Sharona and Boz revisit a popular media narrative about “grade inflation,” starting with a Harvard-focused story that treats “too many A’s” as a crisis—while quietly mixing two incompatible purposes of grading: ranking/sorting and communicating learning. They argue that if grades are meant to report mastery, “more A’s” isn’t a scandal—it’s the goal (with the important caveat that the bar still matters). From there, they dissect a recent viral article claiming “easy A’s” harm

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54:14

137 - Mild, Medium, Spicy: Gamifying Mastery in Grade...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/02/24

Grade 7 math teacher Gabriel Despatie (Ontario) shares what happened when he tried to “overlay” standards-based grading onto nine years of refined tests—and why he ultimately scrapped his assessments after realizing they were packed with filler that measured rounding, formatting, and test-taking more than the actual learning goals. Gabriel walks through the system that finally clicked: a weekly “Learning Carnival” where students work one standard at a time with three backwards-compatible performance

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55:33

136 - Grading for Physicists, Not Point Collectors -...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/02/17

Chris Sarkonak—high school physics and math teacher in Brandon, Manitoba and a PhD student in educational assessment—joins Boz and Sharona to describe his winding journey from traditional grading to standards-based grading, back again, and ultimately toward a student-centered, skills-focused, largely ungraded approach shaped by COVID-era conferencing, Building Thinking Classrooms, and the “ungrading” ecosystem of ideas. Chris shares how removing itemized grades reduced competition and unlocked real

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55:43

135 - The Interaction of Alt Grading, Trauma-Informed...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/02/10

In this episode, Boz and Sharona explore how trauma-informed pedagogy and “teaching with kindness” intersect with alternative grading, especially through the often-overlooked impact of syllabus tone and classroom language. Sparked by Acacia Ackles’ “Teaching Through Trauma” post on the Grading for Growth blog and Cate Denial’s work on kinder syllabus design, they unpack how common “control” policies around devices, academic integrity, and participation can communicate suspicion and unintentionally

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59:30

134 - (Replay) Exploring Alt Grading in Physical...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/02/03

Due to unexpected technical difficulties we were unable to record a new episode for this week. We will be back with new episodes next week! In the meantime, please enjoy this incredible conversation and deep conversation about alt grading in Physical Education, including the details! Join us as Sharona and Bosley talk about alt grading with Josh Ogilvie, a listener and a 22 year high school PE teacher in Canada. (Originally aired December 10, 2024).LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely

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55:29

133 - To Display (Grades) or Not To Display (Grades)...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/01/27

In this episode of The Grading Podcast, Boz and Sharona dig into a 2025 longitudinal study that tackles a surprisingly practical question: should we show students the numeric grade on an assignment, or give feedback without displaying the score? Using a well-controlled design, the research tracks both academic performance and emotional responses as grades are introduced, removed, and reintroduced alongside written comments. The results complicate a lot of common assumptions while also highlighting

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51:36

132 - New Semester, New Grading: Building Trust...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/01/20

A new semester is days away—and Sharona is stepping back into teaching precalculus for the first time in about a decade, this time with today’s alternative grading practices (and one big new twist). Before the “math content” really ramps up, Sharona and Boz make the case for spending serious time up front on what actually makes the semester work: trust, collaboration, and shared understanding of how learning will be evaluated.LinksPlease note - any books linked here are likely Amazon Associates

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48:17

131 - Why Now? The Urgency of Grading Reform in an...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/01/13

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 that can either support or sabotage other reforms, then name what’s standing in the way—misconceptions

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50:01

130 - Rubric or Scoring Guide: Why Clarity Matters...

The Grading Podcast ·

2026/01/06

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 “counts” as quality.Rather than debating the specific incident, they dissect the difference between scoring

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01:01:50

129 - (Replay) The Results are IN! Traditional...

The Grading Podcast ·

2025/12/30

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 students, half of the sections used traditional grading and half used alternative grading. This is a

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50:30

128 - (Replay)Visionary Leadership: Culture Change...

The Grading Podcast ·

2025/12/23

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 administrators (and teachers!) on how to question our practices with an eye towards improving kids'

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55:48

127 - An LMS Designed from the Ground Up for Alt...

The Grading Podcast ·

2025/12/16

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, what went wrong (and what finally worked) in those early semesters, and why most LMS gradebooks still force

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57:15

126 - AI-Aware Teaching, Mastery Quizzes, and the...

The Grading Podcast ·

2025/12/09

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 Grading Institute at UVA, where faculty will redesign courses around specs, standards-based, and

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146 results

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