Grades are an invalidated assessment framework:
1. They don’t do what they say they do (assess retained learning, track progress) 2. They create perverse incentives that diminish students desire to learn 3. They emphasize evaluation over iteration. Iteration is by far the more important skill - both pragmatically, for building knowledge, and for emotional development (grit).
I’ll zero in on “track progress” since you mention that. Start with a simple question:
What is progress in learning?
You’ll quickly uncover two things:
* progress is non-linear & child specific * learning isn’t about task completion
Here’s another teacher’s view: https://www.jessestommel.com/why-i-dont-grade/
Grade do serve one specific kind of student persona - those who optimize getting tasks done & getting good grades for it.
Task completion is an important skill, but it is currently being taught at the expense of much more important & valuable skills.
The justification for that is that task completion is hard, difficult for children to learn.
Only it’s not.
It turns out that children generally complete many tasks when they are engaged in an open, iterative learning process. They’ll even generate & complete their own!
Can you name one student who invented homework for themselves after they already knew they are getting an A+?!
“Most likely to succeed” by Harvard professor Tony Wagner is a great introduction to the academic research behind the above.
There really is a better, child-friendly way to learn.