What do you want grades to communicate? What do you want to be sure that your grading doesn’t do? When grades are used to teach life lessons, such as responsibility, or punctuality, the intrinsic value of learning for its own sake can be diminished. Does the lack of consistency among teachers’ use of grading create […]

Author, teacher, and education policy doctoral candidate, Sarah Morris, explores the research around teachers’ grading decisions. Many teachers have received little if any professional development that produces reflection on the impact of their grading practices. The inequity of some grading practices cannot be decreased without teachers’ realization of the impact of their practices and exploration […]

The author of, “I Used to Think I Was a Fair Grader. Now I look Back and Cringe,” Sarah Morris, shares the unconscious grading decisions she made as a teacher. As she learned about the impact of inequitable practices, she found changes she could implement that did not need any change in system policy. As […]

When teachers are told to implement a new program because it’s “research based,” what are they thinking and feeling? That’s the question Sarah Morris, a Doctoral Academy Fellow at the University of Arkansas explored. She shares her summary from 400 responding teachers. Instructional leaders should consider how they engage teachers with research. Read Sarah’s article, […]