One of the hardest things for students to develop are the skills of thinking about their thinking and learning about how they learn. High school Spanish teacher, Rhonda Higgins, shows how a system of portfolios, reflection, and student-led conferences not only allows students to grasp the content but also to practice and develop these metacognitive mindsets.

Grading systems are remarkably resistant to rethinking given the vast infrastructure built up around our commonly-accepted approaches to grading. Barry Fishman recounts some of his encounters with both the institutional infrastructure, explaining how systemic inertia makes it difficult to give up the current system.

Student learning lives in the back and forth interactions between students and teachers. Mike Rutherford designed gotLearning to better capture these stories in his own classroom, providing one place communicate and document student learning.

Learning shouldn't leave the learner out. Empowering students to share their learning through portfolio conferences shifts the dynamic of who's responsible for the learning and highlights what students know and can do rather than on grades and scores.

Putting agency over one’s grades into the hands of learners allows them to exercise metacognitive skills. When students learn to self-assess accurately, it enables them to transfer skills and understanding well beyond the classroom.

Creating and maintaining portfolio evidence as the learning happens results in richer, more nuanced representations of learning over time. When students and teachers capture learning as it happens, it is no longer an add-on reporting method after a performance task is completed.

With student-led conferences, families hear how students are progressing, more than any number or letter could tell them. Families become a part of the process, learning about their child’s interests and passions. Learning extends beyond the walls of the classroom.

Ekta Sahasi is the founder of spikeview, a global pre-professional portfolio platform for students and young adults. She is reinventing how Gen-Z represent themselves online, build meaningful networks, and forge a pathway to success.

Students using spikeview view their learning as a journey. They see where they have been, can explore what’s next, and make informed decisions on where not to spend time. It’s not a snapshot of one class or one reporting period. It’s life, as they know it.

Portfolios empower students to look back on their learning, feel good about whey they accomplished, and consider how they can use what they have learned in the world beyond.

Rachael Kettner-Thompson explains how she uses a Google Forms add-on to help students communicate a treasure trove of learning, providing timely information for parents and helpful feedback for teachers to improve their practice.

Aaron Blackwelder hosts Teachers Going Gradeless co-founder Arthur Chiaravalli, author of the recent blog post “How I Go Gradeless.”