In this session, aimed at secondary teachers of all disciplines, we will dig into the tension between effort-based and mastery-based grading. We’ll look at academic research on grading, test anxiety, and achievement, then use real scenarios - “grade killer” exams, missing work, retakes, and falling performance against standards - as prompts for structured discussion. Participants will examine how their current gradebooks reflect (or contradict) their beliefs about learning and leave with 1-2 concrete changes they can try to bring practice closer to their philosophical ideal.
