Learning is not a competition, and ranking and sorting have no place in the process. Differentiation and individualized learning are keys to achieving this vision. While there are challenges to attaining this ideal, it is not the impossible task that some would believe. As David explains, the benefits from this shift have far outweighed any challenges.

Having choices in how students show their learning is critically important to access, equity, and even engagement. In addition to these compelling reasons, having choices for demonstrating understanding is a necessary condition of assessment validity. Lee Ann Jung shows how by removing the barriers to assessment, every student has the chance to shine.

Grades do harm, and marginalized students are often harmed the most by grades. Yet, as Juuso Nieminen points out, it is dangerous to portray ungrading as a ‘panacea’ or even as a ‘solution’ to the matters of inclusion. Instead, I see ungrading as a deeply contextual, relational practice that can promote inclusion. The critical questions are: why, for whom, and under what circumstances?

Grades serve as mirrors for the structural inequities that are woven into the fabric of our educational systems. Often used for the twin purposes of comparison and competition, grades are drivers of injustice. Josh Eyler shares an excerpt from his forthcoming book dealing with one of the biggest perpetrators of inequity in our schools today: grading curves.

Michelle Cottrell-Williams interviews Dr. Carissa McCray on how teachers can better create equitable, inclusive learning environment that assess learners holistically. Dr. McCray explains why a culturally competent education is important for everyone in our globalized world, and the all-important role assessment plays in reaching all students.

Assessments are a critical component of education, providing educators with important insights into student learning, and supporting the design of individualized instruction and support. And everything is an assessment. Carissa McCray shows how formative assessments can be embedded throughout our lessons to help both the teacher and student track progress towards learning goals.

Arthur Chiaravalli interviews Fabiola Torres, an online Ethnic Studies professor and Certified Faculty Developer at Glendale Community College. During the pandemic, she's led nationwide workshops and courses on applying equity-minded methods such as culturally responsive teaching in the online environment, humanizing online teaching and learning and ungrading practices.

Lisa Wennerth interviews Alex Shevrin Venet, author Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education. Venet explains how schools can become more truly trauma-informed when they center equity and employ “proactive priorities” in planning and decision making. A long time ungrader, Alex examines how the same principles can be used to make ungrading more inclusive and equitable.

As a graduate of the famously grade-free Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, Nate Bowling received narrative evaluations rather than grades. “My transcript,” Nate writes, “shows who I was as a student far better than any series of letter grades or GPA could dream of.”

We may not be responsible for the inequities our students have faced before they met us, but they are in our care now—and we have agency over the state of equity in our classrooms. This systemic inequity is reason to not only question the status quo, but undo the harm associated with traditional assessment and teaching methods.

Assistant Professor of ELA Education, Karis Jones, shares tips and techniques for how teachers can align their assessment practices with Muhammad’s CHRE (Culturally & Historically Responsive Education) Framework: Identity, Skills, Intellect, Criticality, and Joy.

Progressive pedagogical practices come at the greatest risk for those who would have most benefit from empowering educational structures. Liz Norell, explains why those with more privileged identities must leverage their identity, positionality, and privilege in creating more inclusive learning environments.