This opinion seems uninformed about a great body of research that has been done around standards-based grading. Stanford has led a lot of this and a family member of mine has collaborated with them on successful field studies in school districts. The result has been increased comprehension, better test scores, and especially improved performance for disadvantaged groups.

By removing grades on homework, and making it so that what is being evaluated is not collection of points, but rather ability to demonstrate the skill against a rubric while retesting, it allows learning closer to the actual target skill. It also more closely mirrors an actual career: if you are running a project at a company and do not hit your quarterly goal, then you don’t just say “Oh well, guess I got a F” and move on to phase 2 of the plan. You revise and try phase 1 again until you reach the objective.

It should be noted that switching from normal grading styles to standards-based grading is not trivial. In school districts there are in fact entire training programs and coaches like my family member that help teachers, administrators, and parents understand the concept and put it into practice. There are not only practical obstacles, but also paradigm shifts that have to slowly happen. But the results are worth it, it is overwhelmingly more effective.