140 - Beyond Labels: Specifications, Standards and Designing Better Grading - with Adriana Streifer

Sharona and Boz are joined by Dr. Adriana Streifer, Associate Professor and Associate Director at the University of Virginia’s Center for Teaching Excellence, to explore how specifications grading, course design, and institutional culture intersect with the broader movement to rethink grading in higher education. Adriana shares how her early experiences teaching writing led her to question the fairness and meaning of traditional grading and ultimately adopt specifications grading as a way to better represent the complex, process-based nature of learning.

The conversation dives into the practical differences between specifications and standards-based grading, lessons learned from facilitating the Alternative Grading Institute, and how instructors can assess their readiness for grading innovation in light of institutional constraints and professional risk. Along the way, the discussion examines the difference between procedural and conceptual rigor, the ways grading systems shape pedagogy, and how identity and institutional culture influence the pushback instructors may experience when they change grading practices. The conversation wraps up with a look toward the future: designing grading systems that align with values, support real learning, and perhaps eventually move beyond grades entirely.

Links

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1. From Expectations to Experiences: Students’ Perceptions of Specifications Grading in Higher Education
2. Is Specifications Grading Right for Me?: A Readiness Assessment to Help Instructors Decide
3. Rethinking Grading: An In-Progress Experience, by Jason Mittell
4. When Is A Number Not A Number, Grading for Growth Blog

Resources

The Center for Grading Reform - seeking to advance education in the United States by supporting effective grading reform at all levels through conferences, educational workshops, professional development, research and scholarship, influencing public policy, and community building.

The Grading Conference - an annual, online conference exploring Alternative Grading in Higher Education & K-12.

Some great resources to educate yourself about Alternative Grading:

1. The Grading for Growth Blog
2. The Grading Conference
3. The Intentional Academia Blog

Recommended Books on Alternative Grading:

1. Grading for Growth, by Robert Talbert and David Clark
2. Specifications Grading, by Linda Nilsen
3. Undoing the Grade, by Jesse Stommel

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Music

Country Rock performed by Lite Saturation, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.