Alumna’s new book helps teachers rethink the meaning of grades
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When alumna Maika Yeigh asks teachers to explain the difference between a 59 percent and a 61 percent, the response is often revealing: They can’t.
That question became the starting point for “Equitable Grading Unlocked: Practical Strategies from the Classroom,” a new book she co-authored.
As a teacher, mother and now associate professor at Lewis & Clark College’s Graduate School of Education & Counseling, Yeigh says she’s seen how a single failing grade can affect a student’s entire future — especially when that grade does not accurately reflect what the student has learned.
To explore alternatives, Yeigh and co-author Howard Yank interviewed teachers from across grades 6 through 12 and a wide range of subjects, including math, physics, music and art. The teachers shared strategies for tracking student progress, providing meaningful feedback, accepting late work and giving students opportunities to revise. Their approaches also changed the relationships they built with students.
“Teachers who make changes so grades can show what students know end up with completely different relationships with students,” Maika says. “They essentially come alongside the learners instead of using grades to punish or entice.”
For Yeigh, those relationships are one of the most meaningful outcomes of changing grading practices. When grades are used to reflect learning—not behavior—teachers gain a clearer understanding of what students know and what support they need.
The shift can also change how teachers spend their time. Rather than grading every assignment, teachers can focus on work that demonstrates important skills, provide feedback and give students time to revise. Although changing established grading policies can be challenging, Yeigh says the teachers featured in the book found the process “game-changing.”
Yeigh brings these ideas to her work directing Lewis & Clark’s Master in Teaching program for people becoming middle and high school teachers. At the Portland, Ore., university, she teaches English-language arts methodology and pedagogy, seminars that support student teachers, and a course on literacy with secondary students.
“I truly believe I have the best job,” she says.
Yeigh earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from in 1992 and a single-subject English credential in 1994. Her distinctive first name also has an educational connection. When her parents lived in Zambia, her mother taught English at a local school. One of her students was named Maika.
