Current research examines how faculty engage with, interpret, and implement alternative grading practices through sustained learning communities, with particular attention to how these approaches reshape assessment, feedback, and student agency across disciplines and institutional contexts. Drawing on surveys, recorded reflections, and participant artifacts, the study explores both the pedagogical shifts instructors make and the tensions they navigate (e.g., student resistance, workload, and institutional constraints) when moving away from traditional grading. The project aims to generate practice-informed insights into how collaborative professional learning supports durable, equity-minded grading change rather than one-off experimentation.
Grants: 2025-2026 POD Network Research Grant for “A Community of Practice Approach to Exploring Alternative Grading”
An earlier research project focused on exploring student and instructors perceptions of and experiences with labor-based contract grading, through interviews with students and faculty about experiences with alternative grading. Phase 1 looked at students and phase 2 at instructors.
- Phase 1 Article: Reduced Stress through Agency and Autonomy: Community College Student
Perspectives of Labor-Based Grading. Teaching English in the Two-Year College (2024).
With Indigo Eriksen.
- Phase 2 Article: Supporting the Shift: Professional Development for Alternative Grading Practices. forthcoming. With Indigo Eriksen.
From my newsletter:
- “So you want to grade differently…” (Nov. 2023)
- “More on grades and grading” (Feb. 2024)
- “Developing a Philosophy of Grading” (Sept. 2022