Join us for four weeks exploring alternative grading, grounded in the framework of Grading for Growth by Talbert and Clark (2023). Each week features a faculty presenter sharing their classroom experience using different approaches to grading, followed by discussions. Whether you're new to alternative grading or ready to redesign your assessment, this program offers practical models, peer support, and space to think about grading as something that helps students learn and grow. October 14, Wednesday, 12-1pm: Collaborative grading with Brittany AvilaOctober 22, Thursday, 12-1pm:Standard-based grading with Charles FrancisOctober 28, Wednesday, 1-2pm: (Near-)Ungrading with Neil StottsNovember 3, Tuesday, 1-2pm: contract grading with Joanne MallariSession descriptions: Collaborative grading with Brittany Avila. Traditional grading systems can leave students feeling anxious and overwhelmed. They can also create endless emails and work for instructors. Collaborative grading with your students can take the pressure off of both students and instructor and allow for more meaningful and deeper learning experiences. This talk will walk through one approach of collaborative grading, how it worked, how it didn't work, and ideas to improve your grading criteria. Standard-Based Grading with Charles Francis. In this session Charles Francis details the development of his “Task Standard” system across a year of technical course subjects in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. The session highlights the design details and curious consequences of an evolving standards-based grading (SBG) system for diverse undergraduate learners engaging with complex speech science foundational to their future clinical careers. Themes include measuring impact to workload, analyzing strategic student behavior patterns, modulating friction and incentives, and the nature of iterative comprehensions. Growth Mindset Grading with Neil Stotts. In this session Neil Stotts will share growth mindset grading, a hybrid approach to awarding points and evaluation that motivates students to prepare for class, attend, and participate. Using traditional evaluation grades sparingly, SLO-oriented rubrics are integrated with student-centered strategic grade buffering to reward learning practice and process over product and performance. Growth Mindset grading is especially appropriate for First Gen students, first- and second-year courses, and Core Objective courses designated as “fundamental practice” and “primary areas of focused inquiry.”Curious About Contract Grading: A Teaching Faculty Perspective with Joanne Mallari. How can we work towards more equitable assessment practices in our classrooms while honoring the constraints that instructors face? In this session, Teaching Associate Professor Joanne Mallari will share her experiences with labor-based contract grading (Asao B. Inoue) and engagement-based grading contracts (Ellen C. Carillo). Instructors will reflect on their goals for assessment and develop strategies for adapting contract grading in their own classrooms.