ONLINE FIRST
published on July 15, 2025
Dennis Earl
https://doi.org/10.5840/teachphil202579228
The Joys and Perils of Ungrading
Ungrading is one scheme for judging student learning, along with traditional points- or letter-based grading and specifications or pass-fail grading. Ungrading eliminates or minimizes grading altogether, substituting other feedback for assessment instead. This paper considers the joys (or strengths) and perils of (or possible objections to) ungrading. Joys include better and more authentic motivation, better learning, and better student-teacher relationships. Perils include worries about the ¡°work¡± students will do and how they¡¯ll judge their own learning. Other perils include the workload of providing assessment and guidance without the ease of grades, and also that without grades as extrinsic motivators, students may need help cultivating intrinsically motivated learning. I argue that these and other perils can be met, and that on balance we should favor ungrading over other assessment schemes.